An Exercise in Creativity
by JS.Annaline
Summary: The G Boys take Une up on her conditional offer to join the Preventers, but will they even manage to survive the first day without killing each other? Fluff. Yaoi and Hetero. 2X1, 3X4, 6X9 & 5XSally
1. Where the boys find their new place

An Exercise in Creativity

by Irishfae and Sylenctone

Authors Notes:

' --- ' - Denotes mini POV changes. We didn't do full out POV changes, but had the 'camera' follow different people around.

We don't own Gundam Wing. Irishfae could settle for Heero, Duo and Zechs as her personal playthings though. Sylenctone likes to play with all of them, preferably together!

This is the first collaboration between the authors. It started out as Irishfae becoming bored at work and suggestion to Sylenctone that they should write a fic together, hence the name 'An Exercise in Creativity.' It is a rather long pretty much PWP - as in there is no plot save for getting the boys together - with the set up for real plot, which will more than likely be a brand new fic. Much of this fic was written at our respective jobs, which we probably shouldn't have done. But too late now.

Setting: After Endless Waltz. We may go back and fix stuff as we actually re-watch the anime. It has been a while so forgive any errors. Feel free to give us a friendly heads up.

_CHAPTER ONE: WHERE THE BOYS EXPLORE THEIR NEW PLACE _

_Debriefing, hah!_ The 16 year old Japanese boy mumbles as he kicked the corner of his bed. Well not his bed, he really didn't have a bed. So this was probably better than nothing. The Preventers had one condition for allowing the Gundam Boys to join their team: They go through extensive debriefing and intense psychiatric evaluations. In other words they were all being thrown into a room together to be observed for the next month or two for their mental stability.

--------

_Well at least the roof doesn't leak_. The violet eyed boy toyed with the end of his long chestnut braid as he stared out at the rain lashing against the tiny window. _Put us all together and if we don't kill each other we're fit for society, eh?_ he mused as lightning lit up the sparsely furnished room. _We'll see._ Turning from the window, Duo lounged against the door to the common room. The storm brewing inside should prove to be far more entertaining than rain, and possibly more deadly than the lightning.

--------

There was a large crash of thunder and Heero's intense blue eyes darted to the window and glared at it as if challenging the storm to come to him. He looked around the room. There wasn't anything there. It was sparse, sterile and Heero Yuy was seriously second guessing his decision to join the Preventers. He kicked his mattress one more time for safe measures and flopped face down on the bed. Despite its stark white appearance, the bed gave and he sunk into the nest of soft comforting whiteness. The boy's anger dissipated as his lithe form sunk further into the bed, and within moments his blue eyes closed and he fell asleep. A sleep so deep that, for the first time in his conscious memory, he slept a night where his dreams did not contain violence, death, and destruction. In fact, if asked later on he would say that he hadn't dreamt at all.

--------

Violet eyes surveyed the common room that would be their home for the duration of this little experiment. The door directly across from his was slightly ajar and muttered Chinese curses wafted out like a bad smell. His eyes lingered on the door to next to Wufei's, but it was closed and dark.

With a sigh, Duo turned and wandered into the kitchen. "Heya, Quatre! What's cookin'?" The blond pilot was staring into the open refrigerator. Chuckling, he moved aside to reveal sparkling clean white shelves, devoid of food or even condiments.

"We're going shopping tomorrow!" his aqua eyes sparkled and he seemed way too excited about a supermarket run.

"Damn! Ah well. G'night Q!" Flipping his braid over his shoulder, the violet eyed boy went back to his room, casting one last look at the closed and dark door across the room. Throwing himself on his bed, he watched the lightning flicker shadow patterns across the ceiling until he at last fell asleep.

--------

_Not bad_, was Trowa's only thought looking around his room. He systematically opened every drawer and closet, taking note of the space he had to work with. Not that he had a lot of things to put away, but he still wanted everything strategically placed. He picked up his bag and started to unpack his things placing everything in neat piles on his bed. It was a short task, nothing more than a handful of shirts, three pairs of pants, underwear and socks to last a week. _War's over, guess I'll be needing more civilized clothes. _He smirked slightly_. Not that I looked horribly uncivilized during war. At least I wore more clothes than Heero._ He couldn't help himself but laugh at that.Having completed his survey of his room Trowa walked out of his room in time to see Duo briefly look at Heero's door and retreat into his own room. _Interesting_. He smirked and then caught sight of Quatre, who seemed to have every cabinet in the kitchen wide open. On the counter he saw a few cans of soup but nothing more than that. "Quatre?" Turquoise eyes answered looking innocent as ever surrounded by a sea of open cabinets. "What are you doing?"

"Exploring." It was a simple answer, but the slight upward turn of his lip cast a mischievous smile on his otherwise innocent face, which meant trouble for all those involved.

"I can see we're going to need the household stipend Lady Une gave us to get started in this place! There isn't anything here but a set of ugly dishes and cheap silverware." The shorter boy grinned up at Trowa. "Tomorrow morning I think we all need to go out and re-supply." Still grinning Quatre hopped up on the kitchen counter beside taller boy.

Trowa looked at the blond teen doubtfully, "All of us? Do we all need to go shopping together?" Quatre nodded enthusiastically "And I bet that Heero especially needs to buy clothes. I bet he has five sets of the exact same spandex shorts and tank top." _And besides_, he added to himself_, this is the best way to get everyone talking to each other. We never really had time to do anything together that didn't involve bombs or guns._ "C'mon, it'll be fun! Une gave everyone clothing stipends too, and I bet if we left Duo to pick out his clothes alone he'd just buy new versions of the exact same thing he always wears." Quatre smiled down into Trowa's eyes from his seat on the counter top, trying to look as innocent and guileless as possible.

Trowa looked at Quatre skeptically. _What are you up to Quatre Raberba Winner? Why do I feel like you are plotting something?_ He thought and the blond merely smiled back at him, which made Trowa feel uneasy. Yet, despite whatever plot the blond was up to he knew that whatever it was he was going to go along with it because he didn't know how to say no to him. Maybe two years ago he could have, but even then he had found it hard to do so. At this though, he smirked and Quatre eyed him amusement dancing in his turquoise eyes. "I don't know if fun is the right word. But I would like a say of what food gets picked up." He frowned and looked down at his attire. "And from unpacking it has become clear that I too need a bit more in the clothing department." Quatre beamed at this. "Good. I'll organize everything when I get up tomorrow."

Trowa just closes his eyes and shakes his head. "You're too excited about this Quatre." The blonde's lips curl into an innocent smile, but doesn't say anything else. "I'm going to bed." He takes two steps away from the blond and turns around and looks at the man on the counter. "You should too." With that he turned around and walked to his room. When the taller boy had cleared most of the living room, Quatre gracefully turned about on the counter getting his legs underneath him and stood up on the white tile to get a better view of the top shelves. But just before the blonde's cabinet recon continues, he steals a quick peek across the living room to Trowa. There is something much more than mere admiration in his turquoise eyes, and he smiled happily to himself. The man with light brown hair felt the blue-green eyes sweeping his body, and he turned around just as he was about to enter his room in order to try to catch the blonde in the middle of watching him. But when he turned all he saw was the perfect form of Quatre standing barefooted on the counter. _This isn't going to be a good thing._ He shakes his head to no one in specific and walked into his room and closing the door behind him.


	2. In Which the Boys Wake Up

Authors Note: The mini 'camera' changes are going to seem more coherent as we go along. And the arrangement of the rooms goes like this: Entrance, Wufei, Heero, WC, Trowa, WC, Duo, Quatre, Kitchen in a honeycomb shaped room so that Wufei and Quatre are across from each other, Heero and Duo and Trowa's is in the middle of the four.

CHAPTER TWO: IN WHICH THE BOYS WAKE UP

Duo woke at dawn, but his mind felt fuzzy and for a long moment he could not determine where he was. The room was as sterile and white as a hospital room, but he knew he was not injured. As his eyes flicked to the small window on the opposite wall, his brain finally caught up with his body, and the events of yesterday came rushing back. _Oh yeah, Preventers Barracks. _He smirked and slowly slid out of his bed. His bed... how long had it been since he had his own space? Marveling at this turn in his life, the violet-eyed youth carefully began unraveling his braid, de-tangling the shining chestnut strands with his long slim fingers_. Mmm... time to see how big the water heater is._ Smiling to himself, Duo rummaged through his duffel to find his shampoo, conditioner and wide toothed shower comb. With his hair unbound and hanging loosely to the middle of his thighs and clad only in a pair of black boxers, the lithe young man slipped out his door, into the empty common room and then into the bathroom between his and Trowa's rooms.

The bathroom was as sterile and utilitarian as the rest of the apartment. White tile gleamed on the floor and walls next to the new looking white porcelain fixtures. Beside the shower, a narrow linen closet held white towels and washcloths. Duo adjusted the temperature, stripped completely and stepped under the hot spray. _Ahh... I love showers!_ He thought as he allowed the water to soak through his long tresses. _There's nothing like the feeling of hot water running through your hair._ As he carefully lathered his hair and rinsed it out he wondered what Quatre had in store for the five pilots turned house-mates today. _He's up to something, I'm sure of it. He's never truly happy unless he's scheming something._ Duo combed conditioner through his locks and moved his head out of the spray to let it soak in_. Prolly wants to do some kinda bonding thing at the supermarket or something. Poor Wufei, I don't think he's gonna like it what ever it is. He never really struck me as the bonding type. Heh.  
_  
After showering, he combed out his long chestnut hair. Realizing he forgot his hair tie, he simply wrapped a towel around his waist and wandered back to his room, his long damp locks curtaining his face and streaming down his bare back. He didn't notice the open door across the common room as he slipped into his own room to finish preening.

----------

Heero awoke in the same position he had been when he fell asleep. He groaned and rolled onto his back wincing slightly at the stiffness there_. Ok, so I'm not used to sleeping in soft beds._ And at that thought, he rolled onto the floor landing softly on the plush beige carpet. He let himself relax until the small of his back showed no sign of discomfort while lying on the floor. But moving didn't seem like the thing he wanted to do at the moment, so he raised his arms out to the side making a T shape and closed his eyes. There was something nagging him. He wasn't exactly sure what it was, but his eyes snapped open and in one fluid motion he was standing on his feet. Cobalt eyes took survey of the room. He noticed that the sun had not yet risen completely, but it looked like the storm had cleared. Storms made him think of rain, and rain made him think of water, and water made him realize that he needed to go to the bathroom. He sighed. _Mister perfect soldier is still human after all._ Despite his earlier sigh, he couldn't help but crack a slight smile and moved to open up his door.

All thoughts of going to the bathroom were quickly erased as the bathroom door between Trowa and Duo's room opened up. Steam tumbled out, and he found himself immediately drawn to long, wet brown tresses. He was about to call out 'good morning' but his voice got caught in his throat and all he could do was look. He found himself thinking things he probably just shouldn't. _Maybe he IS the God of Death. Mortals just shouldn't look like that._ He wanted to go up and touch his friend's hair. He had never seen it down, not once in their two years of working together. Heero swallowed hard and wondered what it would feel like.

---------

"Heero? Are you alright?" Cobalt eyes danced around the room looking for the source of the words that broke his revelry. They finally landed on the platinum blonde staring innocently at him. "Are you all right?" the blonde repeated.

"Hum?" He questioned while shaking his head yes.

Quatre looked amused and smiled knowingly to himself. "Heero I've been calling you for at least a minute." With that statement Heero panicked swearing silently to himself. "You sure you're ok?" The blonde's only response from his friend was a quick nod before the brunette swiftly made his way to the bathroom. Quatre giggled silently. _Oh this is going to be fun_, he thought and worked his way back to the kitchen where the smell of coffee wafted towards him.

He grabbed one of three mugs off the counter and pulled the carafe out of its cubby in the coffee maker and poured himself half a cup. The blond smiled at his ingenuity as he replaced the carafe, for it was obvious that he hadn't had filters to make the coffee with_. Of course dishtowels make wonderful emergency coffee filters._ He took a sip from the mug and made a face. _Ok maybe they do, but they don't make the best of coffee._

----------

Duo emerged from his room a few minutes later, hair tightly braided and fully dressed in black jeans, white tee, and black shirt. He followed his nose to the kitchen where the delicious aroma of coffee alerted him that he was not the only early riser. Quatre was sitting on the counter top holding a steaming cup up to his face. "Morning Duo!" he crowed cheerfully. "Have some coffee?" the blonde's eyes danced with mischief.

"Yeah, thanks Quatre!" Duo filled one of the mugs with the dark, fragrant beverage and looked around a moment. "Ah Damn! No sugar, huh? Oh well." Before Quatre could open his mouth to warn him about his unorthodox brewing methods, the long haired boy took a big mouthful of coffee, eyes closed in anticipation. Immediately his violet eyes opened wide in shock, and his expression morphed into a grimace of horror. He seemed torn between the need for caffeine and the desire to spit out the foul, gritty liquid. Steeling his nerves, he swallowed convulsively, his adam's apple bobbing as the bitter stuff went down his throat. "Gah! Man, this stuff is Nasty! What the hell kind of coffee is this?" He opened the nearest two cabinets and upon failing to find any glasses, simply stuck his face under the tap and rinsed the grounds out of his mouth. When he'd at last cleared most of the foul taste from his tongue and turned around, he saw the blond boy hunched over, sides shaking with suppressed laughter.

Quatre's face was a mix of humor and chagrin. "Sorry Duo! I'm sorry I didn't warn you!" His voice was filled with the giggles that he wasn't quite letting out. "There weren't any filters so I used a dishcloth but it didn't work as well as I thought it would and it came out kinda gritty but if you sip it slow and kinda strain it through your teeth it isn't so bad!" Quatre words came out in one long rush, and it made Duo wonder just how much of this stuff his excitable blonde friend had already consumed.

Shaking his head with a laugh he replied, "It's alright Q. At least I managed not to spit it all over this nice white kitchen... not that that wouldn't be an improvement." Picking up his mug again, he eyed it carefully before giving it a tentative sniff. _Hmm, smells good._ _It didn't actually taste __**that**__ bad. Just a little gritty. _Still watching the liquid as though it would jump up and bite him, he dipped the tip of his finger in the hot brown stuff and popped it into his mouth. _Hmm, not bad at all without the chewy bits_. "Heh, not too bad this way!" Duo grinned as he dipped his fingers in the hot coffee again. He was sucking the third finger full of coffee when Heero wandered into the kitchen.

Quatre's blue-green eyes followed Heero's path into the kitchen and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. Duo failed to notice Quatre's expression as he was busy finding a creative way to consume his interesting morning beverage.

---------

The brown haired boy opened his mouth like he was going to say something, and then the words seemed to get caught in his throat as he saw Duo removing his finger from his mouth_. Fuck!_ He could feel his face heating up, and he knew without a doubt that Quatre saw him turn bright red. All Heero could do was stare at Duo with his mouth slightly agape, watching the boy with the braid do something (what he was doing didn't matter to Heero) that was, for lack of a better word, Erotic. _Fuck! Why am I thinking this? He's my friend. Friend Heero! Why are you looking at him like that? Move Heero, stop staring. Quatre is looking at you funny._ Despite Quatre's amused looks, he stayed glued to the spot just watching Duo be completely oblivious to how damn sexy he looked at the moment.

_Room, now, go!_ Heero fought against the wish to stay and watch Duo do whatever he was doing and the need to go back to his room and hide for a bit longer. And then the boy with the long touchable hair looked up and saw that Quatre's attention was somewhere else and began to turn_. Retreat now. Cover has been blow_n. With that, he turned around quickly and made his way back into his room, shutting the door forcefully.

All Duo saw was Heero's back as he quickly crossed the living room and into his room. He winced slightly as the door closed loudly and looked at the blonde with a raised eyebrow. He seemed about to speak when Wufei popped out of his room looking very grumpy. "The sun isn't even fully up. Can you all please refrain from slamming doors this early?" He didn't wait for a reply and stepped back into his room and closed the door only slightly less forcefully than Heero had just done.

Duo looked confused and turned his attention to Quatre who was still sitting on the counter wearing an amused smile on his face.

----------

Trowa had nearly finished dressing when he heard the door slam. _This can't be good. _He thought as he hastily pulled on his other sock. He opened the door to his room just as an extremely grumpy Wufei growled something about slamming doors and sunrise. Knowing a certain platinum blond was most likely in the thick of things, he scanned the apartment for the boy that appeared in his dreams with disturbing regularity. He was there, in the kitchen, on the counter again with a mischievous grin on his angelic face; he definitely was privy to the cause of all the ruckus, if not the cause of it himself. As he headed towards the kitchen, Trowa noticed belatedly that Duo was also there and looked as though someone had hit him on the back of the head with a two by four. His mouth worked but no sounds came out, a rare occurrence indeed. His silence was short lived, for by the time the brown haired boy withthe long bangs had crossed the threshold of the kitchen, Duo had found his voice again.

"What the hell was that all about?" The braided boy looked at Quatre with such a bewildered expression that made the blonde, for a brief moment, feel a little sorry for the violet-eyed youth.

"Maybe Heero didn't like the way you were drinking your coffee? Or maybe he went back to get a tea bag and closed the door a little too hard." He shrugged his slim shoulders. "Don't worry about it too much." The aqua eyed boy grinned at Trowa and hopped down off the counter. "Morning Trowa!"

Duo shook his head, his braid swishing behind him. "Man, I don't get that guy." he muttered into his cup. Frowning at the coffee, he set it aside. "So are we gonna have to live on Quat's crappy coffee or do we have a plan?"

"Yes I do have a plan! Mission 1: Food. This is imperative as there isn't anything here worth eating here." The excited blond pulled a slightly crumpled paper from his back pocket and produced a pen from another. He placed both of them on the table with exaggerated care and then stood back beaming proudly.

Trowa moved closer, standing next to Quatre, so close their shoulders were touching, to look at the paper and frowned. "What is this?"

"It's a Grocery List silly!" Quatre grinned looking into Trowa's green eyes. "Everyone adds what they think we need to it and then we go get it!" Duo leaned over to read the list as well.

Trowa blushed slightly when Quatre looked into his eyes, but recovered quickly and raised an eyebrow as he read the list aloud. "Cookies, Chips, Chocolate, and Ice Cream?"

"Ooh and salsa! Gotta have a veggie!" The violet eyed pilot added, his earlier confusion forgotten. "And Sugar and Coffee filters!" Duo leaned against the kitchen sink, amused by Trowa's flushed face. He was actually quite pleased with himself. Months ago, he'd come to the conclusion that those two belonged together and it seemed to him that he'd just had his theory confirmed. _Ah good for them, maybe this place with give them a chance to talk instead of running away and blushing... Running away and blushing..._ The braided boy froze. _Could that be why?... No way... He's just weird._ Duo's mental voice seemed unsure. "Well fine then, we'll just wait and see." Realizing he said that last aloud, violet eyes scanned the room. It appeared that while he was woolgathering, his two friends had decided to adjourn to the showers. Trowa had stopped on his way to the other bathroom and was staring at Duo like a deer trapped in the headlights. "What? Can't a guy think aloud? Geez!" Trowa relaxed a little and closed the door to the bathroom.

"Man I'm hungry!" He was about to go check on the contents of those cans of soup Quatre found when he remembered his emergency pack. Scampering to his room, the braided boy practically tore open a knapsack he had thrown in the corner. Among bomb triggers, assorted wires, and timers was a brightly colored cardboard box of Sugar Coated Chocolate Corn Pops. Crowing with delight, and carrying his prize, he ran into the common room, snagged the remote as he passed the coffee table, and took a dive onto one of the big armchairs next to the sofa. He sprawled on the chair sideways, with one leg over an arm, one on the floor and his back against the other arm. He flipped through the channels until he found some retro cartoons. The Deathscythe pilot sat munching on sugar cereal, watching a coyote chase a roadrunner and was a happy as he'd been in a long time.

------------

Meanwhile, somewhere not where the boys were, but not that far away either, sat a woman with short, blue-black hair. This woman sat in a room lit only by the wall of monitors in front of her. Her blue eyes darted from monitor to monitor and then stopped on one of them. The expression on her face changed from one of horror to frustration. She shook her head and ran her fingers through her bangs, momentarily pushing them out of her eyes.

The door to the monitor room slid open, but she didn't bother to look at the person who walked in. She already knew who it was, that and she wasn't going to take her eyes off the monitor she was looking at.

"Noin?" The deep voice of the man who had just entered asked.

"Hum?" She didn't look at him. "What's wrong Noin." All she did was point to the monitor she was focused on. The man stood behind her and looked over her shoulder. What he saw was a feed being picked up by the camera in Heero Yuy's room. The young man had successfully destroyed his bed. It looked as if he had used the box spring as a punching bag at first, but that obviously had not lasted all that long as pieces of the box spring were scattered across the room. The man couldn't quite tell where the bed frame was, but he was sure it was somewhere. What he saw now was Heero Yuy destroying the mattress. Springs had started to come through, and the man could see blood on the fabric where Yuy hit it.

"Well this is going well." The man said and sat down next to the woman. "What started that?"

Noin shook her head. "I wish I knew, Zechs. Winner and Maxwell were standing in the kitchen drinking coffee that Winner made with a dish towel." She turned to him abruptly. "Why the hell didn't we give them filters with their coffee?" He just shrugged and she continued with the story. "And Yuy came out of his room. From what I can tell only Winner saw him and then Yuy froze in place and bolted for his room when Maxwell finally looked at him. Those are the events leading up to this." She motioned to the monitor.

Zechs looked at the monitor again and repeated the motion Noin had done just before he walked in, which was to run his hand through his platinum blond bangs. "You want some coffee? I think I need some." He stood back up, not waiting for her answer, knowing full well what she wanted and left the room.


	3. Let There Be Angst

Author's Note: This is a short chapter and the reason for that us due to how we wrote this. Basically emails went back and forth (sometimes from silly distances like from one bed to another when we were at Otakon) and we started to write where the other left off. Now are we going back and trying to break them up into Chapters that make sense. (Sylenctone calls this the "Tag! You're it! Writing Method" which is suspiciously similar to the "Tag! You're it! Editing Method")

We are always up for constructive criticism, just because the sucker is pretty much written doesn't mean we won't go back and rip it apart and re-write. :-P We're known to do this constantly.

_**CHAPTER THREE: LET THERE BE ANGST **_

**Back at the boys' place.  
**As Duo sat there watching cartoons, he could have sworn he heard the sound of things breaking from Heero's room. Big things breaking.

CRACK!!

Duo frowned. That definitely wasn't the cartoon. That loud breaking sound had to have come from behind him... and the only thing back there was... "Heero?" The braided boy spoke so softly there was no possible way Heero could have heard him. He located the remote (in between the chair cushions) and put the show on mute. The sounds of destruction were clear now. Heero was definitely trashing something in there.

He moved silently to place an ear against his friend's door. There was a loud thud and the sound of tearing cloth. _Oh man, the guy has totally lost it. Damn. Should I stop him? If I open the door he'll probably kill me. Shit! Shit! Shit! If I don't stop him, though, he probably will send something right through the wall. Damn! _Duo shifted his weight from foot to foot as he stood there listening and thinking.

**Meanwhile in the shower...  
**Trowa tilted his head back and let the spray slick back his bangs. _Oh Quatre..._ He thought._ What are we going to do about..._ BANG! Startled he dropped into a fighting crouch. More thumping and crashing noises came not from the doorway but from the wall adjacent to the shower. _Heero... What the hell... They aren't finally... No._ Trowa began to rush his shower, not sure what he should hope to find when he emerged from the bathroom.

**Back in the common room...  
**_I have to at least try to talk to him,_ Duo decided, un-braiding and re-braiding the ends of his hair nervously. _I'm supposed to be his friend right? He won't kill me just for talking to him_. Conveniently forgetting that Heero had threatened to do just that on more than one occasion, Duo decided to try and talk to him. Steeling his resolve and holding the raveled tail of his braid in his fist for luck, Duo tapped on the wooden door frame.

thump, thump, ththump, thump CRACK!

He tapped a little louder and called "Ah, Heero? You OK, man?" The sounds from the other side of the room abruptly stopped. "Heero?" Duo repeated, much more softly with real concern and inquiry in his voice. The joking and sarcasm were gone. Duo frowned. _What the hell is going on in there..._ "Heero?" The hoarse whisper was heavy with worry and just a hint of fear.

**In the bathroom...  
**Trowa paused while drying himself off. The sounds had stopped. This was either very, very good or very, very bad, and suddenly he was in no hurry to find out which it was.

**On the other side of the door...  
**Heero Yuy stood amid the wreckage of his room, fist still cocked back to punch the sad remains of his mattress, frozen. Blood steadily dripped from cuts on both fists and one leg, spotting the beige rug with dark crimson. His deep cobalt blue eyes were fixed on the closed door with an unreadable expression.

**In the Living Room  
**Wufei's door flew open. "What the hell is…" He stopped mid sentence when he saw Duo. "Maxwell what the hell did you do?" The Chinese boy looked more upset and angry than usual.

Duo looked at him confusion in his violet eyes. "I don't know. I don't think I did anything. At least I hope I didn't do anything." He fidgeted with his braid some more.

Wufei humphed and glared at the American. "Whatever you did, fix it Maxwell." With that he turned and stalked back into his room. _Well hell_. Was about all Duo could think as his hands formed fists at his side. In his left hand he still hung onto the end of his braid. _This is going to be bad._ "Heero, I'm coming in." No answer. Duo swallowed hard and turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.

**Back on Heero's side of the door…  
**Heero had heard Duo. Though the words didn't really register. All he knew was that the person that the voice belonged to had somehow triggered his whirlwind of destruction. When he noticed the door open, he swiftly pulled a folded knife out of his waistband, unlocked the trigger releasing the blade and stood to the side of the door.

Duo pushed the door open further and peered in, but while his head was turned slightly away from Heero his friend took a quick step and held the knife's blade the braided boy's neck.

Needless to stay, this startled Duo more than anything. _Where the fuck did he get a knife from. All our weapons were supposed to have been confiscated._ Duo didn't show any fear in his eyes, he knew that his friend only need move his wrist to kill him, but for some reason he knew Heero wouldn't do that.

Violet eyes pierced cobalt ones. "Heero." Duo said soothingly. "Please put the knife down." At this Heero grabbed hold of the front of his friend's shirt and blood started to seep into the white undershirt. Duo grimaced. _There are more important things to worry about._ A clean calloused hand reached up and carefully covered the bleeding one. Heero flinched slightly and Duo felt the blade move slightly over his skin. "Heero, please put the knife down." His free hand moved to Heero's tousled hair and he cupped the side of his face.

The knife lowered from Duo's throat and the Japanese teen lowered his arm unceremoniously, dropping the knife to his side, the blade embedded itself in the floor. Then Heero did something Duo couldn't remember seeing for a long time if ever; he started to cry. He didn't loosen his grip on Duo's shirt; he held it tighter as his knees gave way and he sunk to the ground.

Duo's fingers stayed in Heero's hair and his other hand still clung to the bloody fist gripping to the cloth on his chest. _What the hell. The outfit is ruined already._ Duo could feel Heero's body shaking. Shaking so bad that he watched his friend lose balance and fall forward. The Japanese boy's head made contact with the American's abdomen and he just stayed there. His right arm hanging limply at his side while the other clutched to Duo for dear life.  
_  
_The boy with the braid didn't know what to do for his friend other than stay there supporting him. The butterflies that danced in his stomach the moment Heero fell into him made him more nervous than actually walking into his friend's room to begin with. So he stood there. His best friend clinging to him, bleeding and shaking with silent sobs.


	4. The Healing Power of Water

Author's Note: Chapter is what it is... just because it seemed right.

Random: We were working on editing chap five and when we went to load 5 we realized that we hadn't load 4 yet. So here's 4 first and we'll probably put 5 up shortly.

Warning: Boys in the shower together

**Chapter Four: The Healing Power of Water**

Duo knew that Trowa and Quatre were done with their showers by now and were more than likely standing behind him, seeing what they could through the half-open door. He waited for Heero's breathing to steady itself out, which it did after a few minutes. "Come on Heero. Let's get you cleaned up. You go take a shower, and I'll get stuff to bandage you up with."

The short haired boy nodded weakly and looked up at Duo. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

"It's ok. I'm still alive, you're still alive. That's all that matters." He bent slightly and moved the hand that had been buried in Heero's hair to under his arm and helped the bleeding boy to his feet.

**Somewhere Else...**  
The short haired woman and the long haired man sat side by side, so close that their thighs were almost touching, staring intently at one of the eight screens; the screen labeled 01. "Noin. We may need to intervene." Zechs did not remove his gaze from the screen as he spoke.

The young woman took a sip of her coffee before answering, "I think Duo can handle this." She pointed at the screen labeled LR "The others won't let anything happen." Zechs tore his eyes from the Wing pilot's room to glance at the other monitor. The three other boys were standing and watching, in the doorway. 04 and 03 were crowded into the door frame and 05 leaned against the wall between his own room and the others.

Zechs frowned "Perhaps... but perhaps we should have Po ready with a team just in case." He sipped his coffee and glared at the monitor as Noin made the arrangements for the medical team to be on alert.

**Back in the apartment...**  
Duo helped his best friend to his feet. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Heero whispered over and over as leaned into his friend's shoulder and put his arm around his waist to steady himself. The braided boy's skin tingled where Heero touched it.

"Relax ok? We'll just get you a futon, ne? And maybe we'll see if this place has a fitness center or something. With things you can hit that won't break so easily and tear up your hands." _Keep talking, keep talking, don't think about how good he smells just keep talking._

Carefully, they picked their way through the destroyed bedroom to the door. The violet eyed boy was exquisitely conscious of the feel of Heero's iron strong arm around his waist, pinning his braid to his back. He wasn't sure if he was talking to distract Heero or himself. "We have to go out shopping today anyway so we can totally just pick up a new mattress for you while we're out. I bet this one was just as soft as mine, and I bet you couldn't sleep well on it either." Duo gave the others a look and they cleared out of the way, retreating to watch from the kitchen now that the main danger had passed.

Slowly they moved along the short distance to the bathroom, leaving a trail of blood from the wound in Heero's leg. The blood from his hands were rapidly staining Duo's white undershirt and soaking into his black pants. "When we're out we'll get some carpet cleaner too, or meat tenderizer, I heard that takes out blood. Glad my pants are black! Can't stain with blood. That's why I like black." Heero's grip on his shirt started to relax and as it did, Duo realized that the hand around his waist had a grip on the end of his unraveling braid. For some strange reason, even though Heero's blood was probably matting in his braid, a peculiar elation filled him at the thought of the cobalt eyed boy touching his hair. _Now is not the time to go all dreamy like a schoolgirl Maxwell._ He scolded himself as they finally reached the bathroom door. _Now is the time to get Yuy in the bathroom and check to see if he is bleeding to death._

It seemed like it took hours to get across the room but he knew it could only have taken a minute or two. "Hey I'm pretty sure there's a first aid kit under the sink, or at least there was in the other bathroom." Trowa's towel was hanging on the rack nearest Duo's free hand and he snagged it and tossed it onto the floor in front of the sink. "Here, have a seat. You can't fall off the floor no matter how hard you try. Well at least on Earth anyway." Together they eased down into a kneeling position on the towel. As soon as he was sure Heero wasn't going to fall over, he let him go and looked for the first aid kit, or tried to. Yuy still had his hand around the end of Duo's braid. Concerned and confused violet eyes turned and stared into cobalt blue pools. _I could drown in those eyes. _

"Thank you." he whispered, still holding Duo trapped in his eyes and by his hair. Duo couldn't think. Couldn't blink, couldn't do anything but stare back until a warm trickle of Heero's blood dripping on his knee brought him back to reality.

"That's what friends are for, Heero. I was worried about you." He looked down at the redness rapidly spreading on the white towel. His voice quavered a little "AM worried. Let's get you patched up, OK?" He turned away again to reach for the kit. This time Heero moved his arm, still holding the rapidly unraveling braid end, so that Duo had enough slack to get the box out of the cabinet. It was a particularly well stocked kit which made Duo grin a little. "I bet we know who put this one together, hey?" He was rewarded with the tiniest twitch of lips from Heero, which he probably wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been staring at those same lips. How he wanted to just reach out and... well he couldn't. _What you really have to do right now, Maxwell, is bandage up this guy so he doesn't lose more blood than he already has._ The violet eyed boy turned his focus to the worst of Yuy's wounds, the nasty puncture on his leg, and tried to stop thinking about soft looking lips and nice smelling hair and the hand that was still tangled in the end of his braid.

**Somewhere Else...  
**Noin and Zechs stared in frustration at the view of the closed bathroom door. "Damn! We should have cameras in the bathrooms." Zechs looked at her incredulously. "Or at least audio equipment!"

"There are times when a man needs privacy." He said loftily, tossing his platinum hair out of his face.

"Still... I bet you are dying to know what is happening in that room." She smirked slightly because she knew she was right. She also knew that he would say nothing more about it. Still grinning she shifted a fraction in her chair so that their shoulders and upper arms were touching as well as their thighs.

**Back With the Boys...  
**Duo frowned as he looked Heero over. "I really don't want to take you into the shower where you will bleed more, but I can't tell the severity without getting them clean. You think you can get clean without help?"

Heero nodded a weak yes. _I sure as hell have to try. I hurt like hell, and must look like a fucking mess and I don't think I could _not_ do something really stupid if I had to have Duo help me in the shower._

"You have to let go of my braid first. Unless you plan on dragging me in with you." He attempted to say as light-hearted as possible, part of him wanted Heero to say yes, but the other part of him was scared shit-less that he actually did.

Heero let go of Duo's braid, which was slightly caked in blood. Duo smiled at his friend and offered him a hand. Heero took it and Duo grasped his hand and with his other hand supported him at the elbow. The injured boy stood still finding his balance. He was slightly woozy, but he had had worse. Heero took a tentative step forward and felt his knee give way under him. _OK that's not good. Fuck! _He fell to one knee and looked at Duo. _Why the hell am I so helpless at the moment?_ Duo's violet eyes were full of concern. "I'll be right back. I'm going to have Q call Sally and get her down here for some heavy duty healing." Heero nodded mutely, he knew he had no right to say no, and watched Duo walk out of the bathroom.

"Hey Quatre can you do me a favor and call Sally and get her down here with stuff to stitch him up and help stop the bleeding? I'm going to help him clean off. I can't see clearly enough to make any sort of judgment call." Quatre looked at him oddly and Duo looked uneasy. "He isn't standing so well." He looks to Trowa. "Can you grab some more towels out of the other bathroom and throw them in?" Trowa nodded and turned to go to the other bathroom.

Quatre could see the panic in Duo's eyes. "Go." Was all he had to say and Duo turned and bolted back to Heero.

Heero was still on one knee, his hand pressed against one the more stubborn wounds on his arm. He watched Duo walk back into the bathroom, close the door quietly and step by him to the bathtub. He fiddled with the shower head some and then got the water running. He sat on the tub's rim and ran his hand under the stream, at the same time unbuttoning his shirt. Duo fiddled with the temperature a bit with the hand that wasn't unbuttoning, then flipped the switch and the shower engaged. He stood and shrugged the shirt off, then pulled the white and red tee-shirt over his head and without thinking he unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, pushing them down and stepping out of them. This all took less than a minute and he walked over to Heero in just his black boxers and leaned over to pull the destroyed sleeveless green tee off.

Heero looked like he was about to protest, but he did see the wisdom in having Duo undress him. Less wiggling about, less reason to get the heart pumping and less blood getting pushed about to make him even dizzier. Heero stopped putting pressure on the wound on his arm just long enough to get the shirt off and then went back to applying pressure. Duo bent slightly putting his head between Heero's arms, their faces inches apart, and began to lift him to his feet. Heero couldn't close his eyes, couldn't protest, couldn't do anything but look into Duo's eyes as he undressed him.

Duo started to peel off the black spandex shorts and panicked slightly when he realized when he was done doing that, Heero would be standing naked in front of him. _God, Heero, you couldn't be wearing underwear just once with these damn things could you? Ok Duo you can do this. You are helping your best friend, nothing sexual about it._ But oh God there was. He pushed the pants down low enough for them to fall to the floor on their own.

_Ok maybe I should get hurt more often if just to have moments like these more often. Stupid Yuy, he's just helping you nothing more. Stop making more of it than it is. But… Those hands…_ "Come on Heero." He turned, grabbed the med kit off the back of the toilet and walked Heero to the shower. Duo got in first the like warm spray gently hitting his skin and hair, then helped Heero in, still holding onto the kit. When Heero was in the shower Duo moved slightly so that his friend was getting the most of the spray so the water would start to wash the caked blood away. The American popped open the kit, rummaged through it and pulled out a pair of plastic medical tweezers. Heero looked at him oddly. "You decided to fight with wood. While we're in here I'm going to make sure you didn't collect any in your skin." He nodded and began to run his hands up and down his arms washing away the blood.

Duo looked at the red water going down the drain and became even more worried. "Don't worry. It looks worse than it is." Heero smiled, feeling better now that he was in the shower and grabbed the bar of soap Trowa had left in there. _I'll get him some more._ He rubbed the soap between his hands getting a good lather, put the soap back and started to wash his wounds. Everything stung and burned. He could feel his hands tightening up, in attempt to refuse to work as the soap touch the raw flesh on his knuckles. When he had rinsed off his arms Duo gently grabbed one and began to examine it, his eyes avoiding the rest of Heero to the best of his ability.

He made note of the cuts and punctures and ran his hand along his arm to see if there were any raised areas, which might contain something foreign under the skin. He pulled at least three hefty splinters from his right arm and one from his left. Heero had continued to wash his body while Duo examined. When his arms were finally free again he grabbed the bar of soap again and took it to his hair, rubbing the block against his head a bit too violently. This kept him from paying attention to the fact that Duo was on his knees in the shower, his hands running over his legs. _Soap in hair, makes hair clean. Duo is just making sure your not dying, Yuy. Nothing sexual is going on. He even left his boxers on. He probably would have left my underwear on if I had been wearing any. _

"Fuck." Heero yelped as Duo held up a rather large price of wood that had just been pulled out of his calf. "Jeeze Heero, I'm not letting you near wood for a long, long time." They couldn't help but laugh at this. "Ok rinse your hair and lets get you out of the water." Heero leaned a bit and closed his eyes, while letting the soap rinse away the blood and the grime. When he was satisfied that all the soap was out, he pushed his hair back, rubbed his face, the water still running red, and let Duo know he was done.

Duo turned off the water and got out of the tub. He smiled at the pile of towels on the ground. _Thanks Trowa_. And picked one up and tossed it to Heero, who caught it without thinking. "You feeling better?" Heero nodded. "You're looking better." They both smiled meekly. The boy with the long chestnut hair picked up the other stack of towels and walked back over to Heero. It was now obvious where he was bleeding, and he went about tending to the wounds. _At least we should be able to slow everything down._

Heero looked down at himself when Duo was done and couldn't help but chuckle. White towels spotted with red were wrapped all over him. "I'm going to go see if they sent someone."

The Japanese boy nodded. "Hey Duo." He said almost too quiet to be heard.

"Yeah?"

Heero knew he had heard. "Thank you again." At that Duo Maxwell flashed Heero Yuy a smile that made him melt in the warm tingling sensation in his stomach. _God you're beautiful_. Was all that his brain could comprehend as the wet, half unraveled braid bounced out of the bathroom.

_Damn, you're beautiful even when you're bleeding._ Duo thought as he smiled at Heero. _Oh Maxwell, you've got it bad._ Afraid his body would betray his thoughts, and still concerned about the amount of red that had gone down the shower drain, the braided boy quickly turned and headed to the common room. The cold air on his wet shorts calmed anything that might have been there. _How long have I been in love with my best friend?_ The violet eyed boy mused as he glanced around the common room, which was suddenly filled with people. _Now is not the time Maxwell._ The voice in his head scolded. _Go find him some help and get him patched up first before you go lusting after him. Where did all these people come from? _There were several strangers in medical uniforms milling about the room. Finally, his eyes lit on familiar faces in the kitchen.

Trowa and Wufei were talking to a tall woman with honey colored hair that hung in two twists on either side of her face. Quatre was sitting at the table with his head in his hands. They all seemed rather concerned The other two boys stopped talking when they saw Duo. Quatre looked up at the sudden silence and the woman turned. All of them stared at him. Duo tried to smooth out his snarled braid with his fingers. "Ah... I got him cleaned up and slowed some of the bleeding but he really needs an expert. I think he's lost a lot of blood."

They kept staring. Trowa, Quatre, and Po were blushing a little as well. Wufei glared at him and hissed "Pants baka."

Suddenly realizing he was still only wearing the wet boxers, the violet eyed boy blushed. "Sally, um... please take care of Heero. I'll be right back." With that he nearly ran to his room. Ripping off the wet black shorts Duo rummaged for clothing as fast as he could. Throwing on the first articles of clothing he found, he rushed back out into the living room. All the medic type people seemed to be crowded around the bathroom. Peeking in the door, Duo was relieved to see Heero sitting up on the edge of the tub being bandaged by Po and another medic. Po seemed to be giving him a similar lecture about hitting things that splinter and tear open your hands. When the cobalt eyed boy saw Duo, he made a face and rolled his eyes. _Yep, he's definitely feeling better._ Duo thought as he grinned back.

Assured that Heero was in good hands and spirits, he wandered off to find the others, damp hair unraveling from its braid as he walked. By the time he reached the others in the kitchen, two thirds of its length was flowing free in slightly snarled waves. Quatre was still sitting with his head in his hands, the other two were standing beside him. Quatre looked up with a question in his eyes. "Hey, listen. Heero is OK, I'm OK. Sally's patchin' him up so he'll be fine. I told him he's not allowed to have a bed. We'll get him a futon mattress today when we go shopping, and we can get him some nice soothing tea or something and maybe a gym membership so he has something he can punch without breaking shit like his damned hands. Isn't this the point of this place anyway? I mean, who better for us to get used to than each other, right?" Three pairs of concerned eyes blinked back at him.

"Hey! We all have our issues. Breaking shit and threatening people is Heero's. This situation is bound to bring them all out and throw them in our faces. Hey that's what friends are for, right?" He smiled his biggest smile at Quatre. "Now, how about that grocery list eh? I want pancakes!" Quatre blinked at Duo for a second or two. Then he smiled a little back but the smile didn't really reach his eyes. "Gimme the list and I'll go ask Heero what he wants and make sure that Po isn't ready to kill him or vice versa." Without another word he snatched up the crumpled paper from where it lay forgotten on the table and was gone in a swish of loose chestnut hair.


	5. Morning Revaltions?

Authors' Notes: Despite the story being written, edited is another thing entirely. So apologies for the delay. Also, there is going to be some time bending with the first segment of this chapter, but it shouldn't be too confusing.

**Chapter Five: ****Morning Revelations?**

**In the infirmary…**

"Po." Sally answered her phone and Quatre's face popped up onto the vid screen. "Quatre?" She didn't like the worried look on his face.

"Um can you come to our rooms. Heero's hurt himself. He's bleeding. Duo's trying to clean him up, but he asked that I call you and have you come down to look at him too. He said bring stuff to stop bleeding and stitch."

Sally nodded, she knew better than to ask why she needed all that but, she knew that the boys wouldn't have asked for the stuff unless they really felt it was needed. The nice thing about have them trained in combat medicine, they were able to make good snap calls on injuries. "I'll be right there." Quatre nodded on the screen. " Po out."

Sally sighed, stood and picked up the bag that she had just finished preparing thanks to an earlier call from Noin on this matter, she directed two other medics to make their way to the boys' rooms and assess the situation with a mention that she would be right behind them. The medics nodded and took smaller med bags with them. Sally left the room and turned in the opposite direction that her team had just went. She arrived at the control room, the door was open and she could hear the soft humming of the instruments inside.

She stuck her head into the room, leaning her shoulder on the door frame. "Just so you know, I'm going down there to patch him up." Noin and Zechs both nodded.

"Don't mention anything about us being able to see them." Noin warned.

"Oh come on Noin, I'm not stupid. They'd take me out first and then everyone else if we told them we were spying on them." She chuckled at this. "We'll be careful. The medics have been instructed to say little to nothing to them." 

Noin nodded again. "Thanks Sally. Oh and see if you can find out what the hell happened. I think Quatre may know. He was the only one there other than Duo when Heero left the kitchen to destroy his bed." 

Sally repositioned herself in the door way, her weight no longer being supported by the door frame and saluted Noin and Zechs to mark her understanding of her 'orders.' "Understood." She said with a slight smile. "I'll see if he's willing to talk." With that she left the control room and made her way to the room the five Gundam boys were being 'held.'

**Back with the Boys...**

Duo bounded back into the bathroom, his positive mood seemed to have returned when the medical professionals showed up. "So is he going to love doc?"

Sally turned to the bouncing individual with a raised eyebrow while Heero turned an odd shade of red. "Love Maxwell?" She looked amused and Duo turned a similar shade of red as Heero just had when he processed what he had just said. "You might want to talk to the Psychiatrist about that little Freudian slip of yours when you find out who they assign you too." Duo fiddled with a stray strand of hair avoiding eye contact with her. "But if you mean 'will he _Live,'_ then yes, he's fine. He actually didn't lose all that much blood, just looked worse than it really was. But I have informed him that he has to have some high iron meals for the next two or so days." Duo looked worriedly past Sally to Heero who nodded affirmatively, letting his friend know that he had received and understood his care orders. Duo's happy face quickly found its place again, prior embarrassment and worry pushed aside.

"I'm okay for going out?" Heero asked as he looked at Sally.

She turned back around and nodded. "But you have to take it easy. You should hold off on getting clothes when you all go out so you can give some of those puncture wounds time to close up a bit more, though." Heero nodded.

"Hey Heero here's the food shopping list." Duo waved the crumpled piece of paper in the air.

Sally chuckled. "Ok, I get the hint." Her blue eyes glittered as she packed up her supplies and retreated hastily out of the bathroom.

Heero watched Sally and Duo exchange positions and smiled to himself as his friend sat down on the toilet cover. Duo leaned over so he could share what little information there was on the piece of paper. As he did so his tangled, half braided cascade of chestnut colored hair fell over his shoulder, which acted as a sort of barrier between the two teenagers. The Japanese boy was slightly upset that Duo didn't go to move his hair right away. Heero didn't like his view of Duo's face obscured, no matter how beautiful his hair was. And right now he wanted to see that enticing baby face, kissable lips, and exotic violet eyes, not the long beautiful hair. So Heero did what seemed logical to him at the moment and gently pushed the long wet hair back over Duo's shoulders, in the process he let his hand slightly graze the soft warm skin on the other boy's shoulder. _God Yuy, why don't you jump him while you're at it._

Duo looked at Heero. "Sorry, it has a mind of its own most of the time." Then as an added thought. "Thanks."

Heero nodded. _God Yuy, quite the conversationalist aren't we? _He groaned in his head. _Why is this so hard? Why does he smell so good? Snap out of it Yuy!_

"So here is what we have so far." Duo handed the list to Heero, who took the piece of paper with a very bandaged right hand. "Oi Heero, why are your pinkie finger and ring finger taped together?"

"Oh." Heero looked at his hand surprised, but didn't say anything else.

"Oh, doesn't answer the question Yuy." Duo observed with playful sternness.

"Punched something the wrong way and broke those two fingers."

Duo sighed. "Stop hurting yourself Heero. I don't know if my mind can take you injuring yourself constantly now. We're not fighting a war anymore you know."

Heero fidgeted a bit. "I know." Was all that quietly came from his slightly chapped lips.

As a guilty silence fell between the two, Heero's eyes fell to the list and he started to read aloud in horror. "Cookies, chips, chocolate, Ice cream, salsa, sugar, coffee filters and pancakes?" He stared at his friend who was trying his best to look innocent. "Ok, I think Trowa, Wufei, and I should go shopping instead of you and Quatre. I'm pretty sure that if we leave it to you two we'll have cabinets full of junk food and nothing with any nutritional value."

Duo squirmed a bit knowing that Heero was right. "I'm still coming with you guys and so is Quatre, just so we have some fun food with all that good-for-you crap."

Heero couldn't help but smile at his friend's statement. "But not too much." Duo made the sad puppy dog face. "You're body wouldn't know what to do with all that junk food," he cautioned. "The rations we all had provided just what our bodies needed to maintain the high levels of functioning that we needed. Chips and cookies don't count as part of a healthy high performance diet." Heero mentally cringed at the lecture voice he had adopted.

Duo just waved him off while he made a silly face. "Yes mother." And stuck out his tongue at his mothering partner.

_There are so many more productive things that tongue could be doing now._ Heero blushed bright red as his cobalt eyes fixated on Duo's lips. _So kissable. Kissable? What the hell am I thinking. Best friend Yuy! People don't tend to kiss their best friends. _"Um." Heero began when he realized that Duo was looking at him with a questioning look. "You still have some blood in your hair, you should wash it out or people are going to be looking at you funny when we go out." Heero stood up slowly, smiled awkwardly at Duo and walked out of the bathroom.

The boy with the now almost fully unraveled braid just looked at Heero's back, confused. _What the hell was that all about? _"Ok." Was all that Duo could get out before Heero partially closed the door. He stood up, looked around the bathroom. _I think perhaps the other bathroom is better, less bloody._ With this decision Duo left the room, looked at the closed door of the other bathroom, didn't see Wufei, grumbled some nonsense, went back into the bathroom he just came out of, and closed the door.

++++

Po left the bathroom with a smile on her lips. _Those two definitely have some things to work out_, she thought. _Now to find out just what put him over the edge, though I think I have a pretty good idea._ She looked around the room for Quatre and found him washing out coffee cups in the kitchen. Trowa was standing in the doorway to Heero's destroyed room but she had the feeling he watched her from beneath those long bangs of his. _They're all so protective of each other, though they'd never admit i_t, she thought as she made her way to the kitchen. Quatre smiled at her when he heard her come in. "He's fine. He just needs to take it easy for a couple days." Sally said as she smiled back at the blonde. Quatre looked relieved. "That's good to hear. We were worried." "Quatre?" Sally looked into his blue-green eyes, "Do you know what happened?" He looked down and shook his head. She sighed. "Well if you or anyone else ever needs anything, even just to talk, don't hesitate to give me a call, ok?" Quatre nodded but didn't look her in the eyes. _Well I tried._ She patted the blond boy gently on the shoulder "Let's make my next visit a social call, shall we?" _There, that's better_, she thought as he rewarded her with a grin. Walking out of the common room she motioned to her assistants that it was time to go. "Say goodbye to everyone for me!" She called as she slipped out the door and into the hall.

A few minutes later, in the bathroom, a very confused Duo fought with his comb and his emotions. _ I just don't get that guy. One minute everything is great and the next he's running off._ He put the comb down and untangled a snarl with his slender fingers. _ Maybe he can tell..._ He snorted at the thought. _Heero, who can't tell if I'm joking or serious half the time is going to ferret out the crush his best friend has on him. The one I've only just today realized and admitted to myself. Right Maxwell. You think too much._ He continued to comb out his long chestnut hair, trying hard not to think about Heero Yuy, or how easy it is to get lost in those Prussian blue eyes, or the tingles that went up his spine when he'd touched his hair earlier, or the way he'd almost looked like he was going to kiss him after that, or how good his friend's hair smelled, or how strong and firm his thighs were in the shower, or anything else like that. He failed. By the time he'd finally gotten all the snarls out of his hair, he'd considered every aspect of the morning so far as it related to his cobalt eyed friend. As he rinsed the last of the blood out of his hair and combed it out again, Duo wondered what it would feel like if Heero were to comb his hair. Or braid it. By the time Duo was presentable again all he could think about was Heero. _Now Maxwell_, he scolded himself, _you've done quite enough of that. Pull yourself together, put on a happy face and make sure Heero, Trowa, and Wufei let you buy more Cocoa Sugar Crispy Puffs to replace your stash._ Putting on his best Duo Maxwell grin, he opened the bathroom door to rejoin the others.

Wufei peered out into the living room just after Sally had left the apartment. He knew she was gone, but despite knowing this he needed to make doubly sure that she had actually left the room before he came out. In fact, he didn't see Duo sneaking up beside him with a large grin on his face.

"Whatcha hiding from?" Wufei jumped and Duo chuckled. "It wasn't someone with big blue eyes and long loosely curled honey hair now was it?" He taunted bouncing backwards out of reach of any sort of martial arts move he knew Wufei might throw at him.

"Maxwell, watch yourself. Or I'm going to throw it back in your face." Duo stopped bouncing backwards and looked at Wufei slightly dumbfounded, like he didn't know what he was talking about. _He couldn't possibly know._ Duo's dumbfounded look didn't betray his concern, he was better about hiding things than some people may think.

"Throw what back into his face?" Heero asked, walking out of his room dressed in a pair of khakis and a white button down shirt. The outfit was something akin to clothing he swiped during a one of his stints at school during the war. Wufei looked at Heero and harrumphed, but it was hard to miss the very amused look on his face. Wufei's shoulders shook with silent laughter as he exchanged a knowing look with Trowa and strode off to the kitchen. "What the hell?" Heero questioned quietly, looking to Trowa who merely responded with a half smile and silently made his way to the kitchen as well. Trowa's path, though, was a bit more defined than Wufei's; he sought the area behind the chair where Quatre was sitting. 

Heero looked helplessly at Duo who still seemed to have this dumbfounded look on his face. Duo managed to snap to and look directly at Heero who's face flushed bright red. His dark blue eyes darted about collecting information on where everyone else was. _Kitchen, ok. What the hell are you thinking Yuy? You are going to jump your best friend in the middle of the living room? You don't even know how any of them would react if you backed Maxwell against the wall and helped yourself to more than just a fleeting taste of those enticing lips._ While those thoughts raced through his head, his mind began to feel fuzzy, his ears were starting to burn and he knew his face had to be bright red. _Yuy if you stand here any longer looking at him it is going to be very, very obvious that you aren't thinking pure thoughts. Stupid hormones. _Heero cursed at himself. His once non-existent sex drive had suddenly kicked in with an insane vengeance, and it was taking all he had not to corner his friend somewhere, strip him naked and do horrible, pleasurable things to him. Heero cursed at himself again as he felt the fire start burning through his veins. _This is going to be very bad very soon. Control Yuy, control. You were master of this less than a year ago, find your center. _His shoulder devil didn't like this line of thought and brought up that in the center, of the room, his view, his thoughts was Duo. _He's my center. He's been that for 2 years. Maybe at times I ignored how much I really need him… _The door buzzer rang, effectively pulling Heero out of his internal struggle. 

Duo watched Heero intently as he stood there staring at him with those intense dark blue eyes he wouldn't mind waking up to every morning. He knew that something important was happening behind those distracted cobalt orbs and he longed to be privy to that inner conversation. Maybe if he could just convince him to come to his room, sit on his bed and 'talk.' Ok, maybe talking wasn't his first preference at the moment. When the buzzer rang, he didn't immediately look at the door; he waited for Heero to look that way first, then let his eyes follow. 

Quatre stood from his seat and went to open the door. Lucrezia Noin stood there in the doorway. She wasn't in her dressy uniform, but she wasn't in her daily schmucking about uniform either. "Good morning Lieutenant Noin." Quatre said, stepping out of the way so she could walk into the room.

"Good morning Quatre, boys." She nodded to each on in turn.

As the blond closed the door he could see the confusion on some faces. "How goes your morning so far Lieutenant?" 

Noin looked around the room, saw Heero, though fully clad he looked less like a mummy than he had minutes earlier. She walked past Heero and looked in his room then turned back to the Japanese boy with a raised eyebrow. "Agent Yuy your first session with the psychiatrist will cover what caused you to do..." She pointed back to his room. "...That." Heero looked as though he was about to protest but didn't say anything, and merely nodded his head in understanding. He knew better than fight with Noin on this issue. She would make sure his life was hell if he even tried. "I'll have someone bring you a futon and linens for it. I'll even be nice and ask some trainees to clean the mess up in there, but next time you feel like trashing your room, you get to clean it up." Heero nodded again and she seemed satisfied.

Noin reached into her pocket and pulled out a keycard on a chain and tossed it to Trowa. "You're the oldest, you get to drive these guys. The van is outside. You'll know which one is yours when you get out there." Trowa caught the keys with no issues and examined the keycard before pocketing it. Noin dug into her pockets again and pulled out ten other keycards. Five of them were blue and five of them were red and each color had one of the five Gundam pilots name on it. She divided the cards up by color and held them up. "Red is your grocery allowance. The first month's amount his higher since you have absolutely nothing here except towels. The blue is your clothing allowance. There is slightly more on here than what you will get later on. Be sure you buy a suit, something nice. There will be times when you will need it. Comfortable jeans, shirts and shoes are also strongly recommended. You all need to broaden your fashion horizon's slightly." She looked directly at Heero. "No spandex Yuy." "Hn." Was the only response she got. 

"I think from there you will be able to fend for yourselves." The five boys seemed to nod, but didn't say anything. Noin chuckled to herself and started to pass out the cards. When she was done, she walked to the door and before leaving she turned to the boys to say her departing words. "Someone contact me when you get back and I'll make sure you get a tour of the places you can go in the complex."

Quatre nodded. "Thank you Lieutenant, that would be lovely." He was so good at being polite. She smiled at him, God she needed out of this apartment, the tension was so thick that she thought butcher's knife might not be strong enough to slice through it. "Have fun shopping boys." With that she turned and left the apartment.


	6. Riding In Cars With Boys

Disclaimer: We still don't own Gundam Wing.  
Warnings: Lusty thoughts, silliness 

**Chapter 6: Riding in Cars With Boys**

Duo blinked and stared as the door closed behind Noin. Everyone else seemed to be doing the same. After all that had happened this morning, it was hard to believe that it was barely after nine. He watched Heero with his peripheral vision. He was toying with his cards and staring at the door also. _He looks really nice in those khakis. I think he would look even better in a pair of tight black jeans. It's odd to see him in something other than his shorts and tank top. _GURGRROWL! Duo's introspection was interrupted by a protest from his stomach. It had been too long since he'd eaten any real food. From the way everyone else was suddenly staring at him, they'd heard it as well. "Hey, uh, how about those groceries?" He grinned a little sheepishly and ran a hand through his chestnut bangs. "I don't know about you guys, but I enjoy eating food regularly, and I don't think I've done it recently enough."

Wufei scowled and stalked to the kitchen table to look at their so-called list. "This is not a plan. If we do not have a proper plan we will get nothing accomplished." He glared down at the rumpled paper. "We need everything. A list will not be helpful."

Quatre looked around at the other four boys. _This is not going the way I planned!_ He cried inwardly. _This was supposed to be a fun outing so that we could get to know more about each other. Now Heero is all bandaged up and no one is having fun! _He thought furiously of a way to salvage the situation. _Maybe…_ "Maybe you're right. Let's split up the store and each take a cart. Put what you think we need in and then meet up somewhere, sort it out, and make sure we have at least some immediately edible food, and not too many perishable things." He smiled as he saw guarded approval of his plan appear on the faces of the other pilots. Trowa's hand shifted on his shoulder and sent a tingle down the blonde's spine. He looked up at the tall young man standing behind him, getting a rare view of his whole face as he did so, since he was looking up under his hair. The green eyes looked down at him and Quatre nearly melted off the chair.

"Sounds reasonable." Trowa agreed. He was curious, and a little afraid of what the Arabian boy would pick up. _Maybe he and Duo should be assigned to cleaning supplies or rice and pasta or something safe._ He looked down into those beautiful eyes and thought about how easy it would be to lean down a few inches or so and capture those soft looking lips with his own. _Snap out of it, look away or you'll find out in front of everyone! _He struggled to look away and was both relieved and disappointed when Wufei spoke and Quatre's eyes flicked away a heartbeat or so later.

"Fresh foods, canned foods and condiments, frozen foods, dairy and bread, and household supplies" he said firmly. "I will take the fresh foods. We can determine the rest on the way, but I fear that if we do not feed him soon, Maxwell will begin chewing on the towels." Stalking to the foyer area, the Chinese boy began slipping on his shoes.

"Hey! I'm not _that_ hungry! …yet." Duo grumbled as he followed Wufei to the door. "Who gets the candy and cookie aisles?" he asked, and grinned as Heero punched him lightly in the shoulder. _Well, lightly for Heero anyway, _he thought as he rubbed the spot. "What? We're growing boys! We need a steady sugar intake!" His laughing violet eyes met Heero's and he stopped walking. He simply stood there, grinning and staring into Heero's eyes. _They have little dark flecks in them. Like the opposite of stars. And he's got such nice eyelashes. _How he wanted to close the gap between them and kiss those damned sexy lips and feel those eyelashes brush his cheek as they closed. Heero stared back and his eyes darkened, but not with anger. There was something else there, something Duo couldn't quite place.

After another long heartbeat, Heero looked away. "Baka" he muttered, and bent to the task of tying the laces on his ugly yellow sneakers. Or tried. His bandaged hands and taped fingers made it quite difficult to manipulate the thin strings. Strong thin fingers took the laces from his hands and a long braid snaked down beside them. Tying the laces firmly, Duo grinned at Heero again. "Uh, thanks" Heero managed.

"Hey, Po'd kill me if I let you re-open those cuts ya know!" He shrugged his braid behind him again and gave Heero a hand up, knowing his injured leg probably wasn't liking the crouch he was in at the moment. Heero's hand was warm where it wasn't covered by bandages. Duo felt heat rise in his cheeks and hoped that he wasn't blushing too badly. _Did he hold it for longer than necessary or am I just imagining it? Oh use your head, Maxwell, this is Yuy we're talking about. Be happy he accepted your help at all. _Duo looked around. By now all the other boys were shod and pretty much ready to go.

"Does somebody have the house keys?" Quatre asked as they filed out the door. Wufei, Trowa, and Heero grunted an affirmative at the same time and the blonde giggled. "Onward! To conquer the Grocery Store!" he shouted as he flung his arm out and began marching down the hall to the stairs. Duo laughed and ran to catch up, marching in step with his blonde friend. Trowa's lips twitched in a tiny smile and shook his head, and Heero followed with an unreadable expression, watching the two boys ahead of them. Wufei brought up the rear muttering something about fools and their posturing.

Despite the unreadable expression Heero Yuy was secretly thrilled at this expedition to the grocery store. Why, he wasn't exactly sure, but just watching Duo marching down the hallway, his long chestnut braid swinging lively across that beautiful ass. _Calm down Yuy, Trowa is standing right next to you, if you let down your damn guard he'll know what you are thinking. _Heero carefully shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his khakis and watched Duo Maxwell with the most guarded look of lust he could manage in his dark blue eyes.

Quatre and Duo ran down the stairs to the outside of the facility. Heero and Trowa watched the boys that made their hearts skip, race each other down the stairs, smiling and laughing like they were ten again--though both of them doubted that they ever did anything a normal ten year old did when they were that age. Only Wufei, who walked three paces in front of Trowa and Heero noticed the, dare he say, dreamy look in their eyes when the other two boys began laughing. Wufei smiled and stopped walking to see if Heero or Trowa would register that he no longer lead. Just as the Chinese boy figured, they continued walking past him, completely oblivious. _Oh, they have it bad__Two years ago they would have stopped, pulled out weapons, and secured the area. Oh how the mighty have fallen._ He crossed his arms and smirked. _This will be interesting._ Then he continued, the smirk still firmly in place, following the other boys outside.

Outside, Quatre and Duo were sitting on the hood of a medium size SUV grinning broadly at the other three boys. Heero raised an eyebrow to Duo and was rewarded with a smile that seemed to be meant only for him.

"Tied. Hey Trowa is this it?" the braided boy asked, patting the hood he was sitting on.

Heero sighed. _They're sitting on the vehicle and they don't even know if this is the one that we've been assigned. Sometimes I wish I could just not care. _

While Heero was lost in thought watching Duo being completely oblivious to the effect the boy with the chestnut braid had on him, Trowa was turning the key over in his hands. "Looks like it, but if you two will look around the lot, that isn't the only vehicle out there with that specific make and model." Quatre and Duo grinned sheepishly at each other and gracefully jumped off.

Trowa walked up to the vehicle while holding the key in front of him. The engine turned over. "Woohoo! We chose the right one." Duo shouted happily.

"I call nav." Quatre giggled and jumped in the front passenger's side seat and bounced a bit.

Duo bounded into the back seat and planted himself in the middle, he wiggled happily and watched Heero with bright violet eyes. _Ok... so this is kinda obvious, maybe he won't think too much of it._

Heero walked to the far side of the SUV and stepped up into it taking a seat next to, in his mind, the incredibly sexy wiggling Duo. _I bet your this lithe and energetic in bed. Aren't you, Maxwell? _He smirked to himself, closed the door and buckled himself in.

Wufei climbing in next to Duo. "Maxwell stop squirming, we're just going shopping. Nothing special." Duo turned, leaned against Heero slightly, and stuck his tongue out at the Chinese boy. "Humf." Was the reply to Duo's actions and Wufei went on to buckle himself in and ignore the way too happy American next to him.

"Buckle." Heero commanded his friend. Duo chuckled and stuck his tongue out at Heero. _Oh Maxwell, why did you just do that. _Heero found himself leaning closer to his friend, wondering what it would be like to just kiss him right then and there. What would those beautiful eyes do if he did so? _You'd probably clock me and stay away from me wouldn't you?_

Duo grinned at Heero. "Aye-aye sir." He mock saluted and groped around for his seat belt. "Um Heero. I think your sitting on the other part of my seat belt."

Heero arched his back slightly raising his bum off the seat as high as the lap part of his belt would allow him. _Ok so I could unbuckle my belt, but this is far too much fun._

Duo dug into the seat searching for the other part of his belt, his forearm brushing against Heero's hip as he searched. _Fuck Heero, you are just asking to have that gorgeous ass of yours groped by yours truly._ "Got it." Duo announced as he pulled the buckle out, albeit a bit to hard and hit Heero square in the hip. "Sorry." The American blushed slightly and quickly buckled himself in.

"Hn." Was the only response he got and all the sudden sitting still was a really good idea. So he sat, hands between his knees, looking forward. He was forced to smile when he caught Quatre constantly glancing over at Trowa.

"Ready?" Trowa asked looking over his shoulder at everyone. They all acknowledged Trowa and off they went.

Trowa glanced at the map of the local area on the small nav screen. The grocery store wasn't far at all. Within easy walking distance, actually, but with the amount of food they'd need to pick up today it made sense to take the vehicle. Carefully modulating his speed, and observing all signs and traffic laws, the green eyed boy piloted the SUV filled with terrorist teens to the local grocery. It wouldn't do to get a traffic violation so early on. Besides, if he was driving slowly and carefully he had more time to watch a certain blonde boy out of the corner of his eye.

That particular blonde boy was splitting his attention between their erstwhile chauffeur and the scenery outside. It was hard to decide which was more fascinating. People outside the window were going about their daily morning lives. They weren't dodging missiles or mobile suits flying through the air above them. They were living in relative peace and while these people were probably not all happy, they were at least fairly secure in the knowledge that this block would not be rubble when they returned. 

Duo watched as an elderly woman crossed the street in front of their van and tottered into a mom & pop drugstore on the other side. He turned his head to watch as they began moving again and his eyes met Heero's. _Was he watching me? Oh, those eyes! Man Heero, one of these times I'm going to forget that you can kill me without breaking a sweat, and you are gonna find yourself kissed and kissed well. _He did the only thing he could think of that wouldn't end in Heero throttling him. He grinned. To his shock, Heero actually smiled back a little, but then his eyes wandered back out the window. Sighing inwardly, Duo shifted in his seat and stared straight ahead.

Wufei, being only inches away, noticed the posturing of his four house-mates. _Idiots, all of them. I wish the lot of them would stop dancing around each other like a bunch of mating cranes! _He rolled his eyes and glared out the window just as Trowa turned into the parking area of the grocery.

When the five boys had piled out of the van, Quatre got everyone's attention. "Alright! So we're going with the sector plan?" When no one objected he continued. "Just grab what you think we'll need right away, we can always come back. Then we'll meet up near the registers and go through what we got to see if we overlapped or missed something vital. Any questions?"

Trowa nodded and asked in his quiet, flat tone. "Does anyone know how to cook?" Four sets of eyes blinked up at him. "Kinda…" "…uh" "well…" and "hn..." were the responses he received. He frowned. "Maybe we should keep that in mind."

"Perhaps a cookbook should be selected also." Heero looked thoughtful.

Quatre ran his hand through his blonde bangs, "Right. So lets each take a cart and a section… Wufei wanted fresh foods, who else wants what?"

"Canned" Trowa said simply.

Duo fiddled with his braid and replied, "Uh, frozen stuff for me." The sparkle in Duo's eyes made Heero look at him sharply. _Oh, how much trouble can he get into with frozen vegetables? Then again, this is Duo…_ Quatre grinned at Duo which made Heero even more nervous.

"Well I guess I'll get household stuff, which leaves Heero with bread and dairy." He grabbed a cart and headed to the door. "Let's give it twenty minutes!" He shouted over his shoulder as he ran for the entrance. The enthusiastic blonde boy narrowly avoided a collision with a harried looking mother of two and a cranky looking old man as he steered his cart through the automatic doors. Taking up their own carts and following, the four other pilots set out to complete their first mission of civilian life.

_A/N: We're glad people seem to be enjoying our little exercise. As we might have said before, it's pretty much already written so all we have to do is break it into chapters. That is the problem. Chapters don't seem to like being broken. This one is kinda short, the next one is kinda long, but this was the only logical place to stop._


	7. Groceries! A Most Difficult Mission

**Disclaimer:** Nope, we still don't own Gundam Wing. Damn.

**Warnings:** Tabloid headlines! And a wee bit of angst. And silliness... Actually that warning should be on the whole thing. Also POV changes that will make your head spin. Sorry. It's an unfortunate side effect of the ping pong ball like writing method we used to create this monster.

**Sylenctone's note:** The lack of updates is entirely my fault. You see I've been pushing Irishfae to write more College Days (which is lovely, go read it!) but I've not been writing any new things of my own so **I** should have been editing and posting this story. But I'm lazy. Very lazy. And forgetful. So I apologize to whoever is actually reading this story for my complete spazmonkeyness. Future warnings at the end of the chapter... 'cause stuff is actually going to start happening soon! I promise!

**Chapter 7 (Groceries! - A most difficult mission)**

Duo threaded his cart through the moms and old people with ease, plotting a direct course for the frozen food section. _Heh, frozen means ice cream! And frozen cookie dough!_ Grinning fiercely, he scanned the shelves filled with the delicious frozen treats. He selected five pints, one for each of the pilots. _Coffee chocolate ripple for Quatre, because he played that damned trick on me this morning. Chocolate chocolate chip for me. Maybe butter pecan for Trowa, and Rocky Road for Heero. 'Fei is getting rum raisin. _He threw in a larger container of plain vanilla and a tub of scoop and bake chocolate chip cookie dough just in case.

Frowning he looked around the rest of the frozen section. _I'd better get some real food to add to this or they'll make me put the ice cream back. _He tossed in a couple bags of frozen veggies and a frozen pizza. Fiddling with his braid as he stood in front of a selection of bagged frozen skillet meals, he debated the merits of "Fettuccine Alfredo" versus "Southwestern Chicken and Vegetables." Calculating the amount of space in their freezer he just grabbed both and chucked them in his cart. _I guess that will do. Wonder what the others got… _Artfully arranging the real food to disguise the ice cream and cookies, he made his way back to the front of the store.

Trowa was already waiting. His cart contained a wide assortment of condiments, several jumbo cans of soup, jars of pasta sauce, boxes of pasta, and a couple of "boxed dinners" of the mac and cheese variety. Duo grinned at him "Hey Tro, 'seen the others?" Trowa shook his head. A moment later Wufei appeared behind Duo, his cart filled with green things, some fruits, and a couple packets of cold cuts from the deli section. He raised an eyebrow at the ice cream but made no comment. "That just leaves Quatre and Heero." Duo mused aloud as he glanced up and down the front aisles.

OOO

The blonde giggled uncontrollably as he skidded to a halt at the cleaning supply aisle. He turned down the aisle and grabbed a broom, mop, dustpan and hand broom. Followed by five packs of yellow rubber gloves. _One for each of us. _A huge thing of dish soap, some sponges and brillo pads. Three things of dishwasher detergent. _We're growing boys we're going to go through lots of dishes. But we're also messy boys. _The next things that got thrown in were bathroom and kitchen cleaners. _And lots of carpet cleaner if this morning is any sign of how things are going to proceed. And candles. I like candles. They're romantic._Quatre threw in on top of all the necessarily stuff strong fruity smelling candles that could provide a very romantic atmosphere for a very sexy night alone with Trowa. He giggled and wiggled at his internal thoughts.

_Cleaning tools acquired. _Quatre giggled his way to the next aisle over and grabbed trash bags, paper towels, toilet paper, plastic storage bags and containers. Wax paper, he didn't know what he would do with that, but he was sure he'd find something. Aluminum foil, saran wrap, tissues and toilet paper finished that row. _One more stop._

He giggled some more and bounded to the next aisle, which contained dishes, glasses, mugs and silverware. _We're going to need a lot of these. Hopefully Heero won't break them all._People watched the blonde as he unloaded the shelves of wares, curious as to just what he was up to. Quatre just turned and beamed at them once he had enough things to satisfy what he thought was enough. "Done." The blonde triumphantly said a bit too loud as he hit the handle bar, sheepishly grinned and headed to the rendezvous point. When he got there everyone was there waiting save for Heero. "Um where's Heero?" Everyone shrugged.

"I'll get him." Duo volunteered and bolted off towards the bread and dairy sections.

ooo

Most people when shopping have an idea of what they need. Heero Yuy on the other hand stood at the entrance to the aisle that contained the bread. He gulped slightly. _Ok there are five of us. We're growing boys and whole grain is one of the core requirements for healthy eating right? _Heero began looking at the wall'o'bread and his head began to swim. A kid ran up next to him and grabbed a loaf, in what looked to be a random fashion and ran back to his mother and dropped the bagged loaf in the cart. "Good. Grab some peanut butter now?" The kid beamed and bolted back down the aisle. _If that kid can do this so can I. _The Wing Zero pilot started picking up bags of bread, starting with the type the kid had grabbed and looked it over. It was Italian bread and by the look of the ingredients this wasn't what he was looking for. Several loaves later Heero decided on bread that was 100 stone ground dark whole wheat and dropped ten of them into the cart.

Heero looked around some more and frowned, he grabbed four jars of natural peanut butter and four jars of all natural preserves. One strawberry, one raspberry, one grape and one mixed berry. _Ok that should work._ He pushed the cart and stopped when he saw something that caught his eye. Nutella, chocolate and hazelnut spread. _Duo would probably like this. Not that I want to encourage his poor eating habits, but I could stash this somewhere for later usage._ Heero flushed bright red. _You're a pervert Yuy, you know that? Shut up. Can't help it that I have the raging hormones of a repressed sixteen year old boy. _Heero battle internally about the many naughty uses of Nutella and turned bright red again when he thought about what it would be like to lick the nutty chocolate spread off of Duo's smooth muscular stomach._Enough Yuy, put it in the cart and keep going._

The boy with the messy brown hair threw the jar of Nutella into the cart slightly forcefully. He had already managed to get stares when he picked out ten loaves of bread, the eyes didn't leave him as he fantasized about what he could do to Deathscythe's pilot and all those eyes sparkled as he quickly pushed the cart out of the aisle. Upon emerging from the aisle Heero found himself looking at what he could only gather to be the dairy aisle. Milk was easy, he grabbed four gallons of organic 2 milk off the shelf and after accidentally squishing the bread underneath them all he quickly rearranged and put the bread on top of the milk. He grabbed two gallons of house brand half and half as there was no organic version available.

Heero saw that yogurt was on sale. That was good for you right? Live active cultures and all that. He snagged 48 cups of yogurt and carefully placed them in the cart. Further down he found cottage cheese. Large curd and small curd. _What the hell is the difference? _ He shrugged and grabbed two large containers of both kinds and put them into the cart. Sour cream? _What do I need sour cream for? We've got to need it for something._ Two containers got thrown into the cart followed by two containers of part skim ricotta cheese, two containers of regular cream cheese and one container of whipped cream cheese. He stopped in front of the cheese and his blue eyes grew wide. _So much to choose from. Oh hell. _ Into the cart went two of each kind of cheese he could find.

_I think this covers bread and dairy._ Then the refrigerated section gave way into juices and teas. _I don't think anyone was assigned this stuff either. Juice is good for us. _Heero moved the things in the cart around some more. Mainly keeping the bread on the top. After the rearrange he dumped three gallons of orange juice, two gallons of tea and five other gallons of random other juices. _This should be good._

"Hey Heero." Duo skidded to a halt in front of Heero's overflowing cart. "Whoa there. I think we're done now Heero." Dark cobalt eyes looked at Duo slightly confused. "Come on" He touched Heero on the shoulder and the perfect soldier jumped slightly.

"Ok." Was all Heero could muster after he felt Duo touch his shoulder._Would it be wrong if I tried that thing with the Nutella on you right now? _Was the only thing that Heero Yuy could think as he watched Duo Maxwell pull the overflowing cart from the front, leading them back to the meeting point. _Don't drool Yuy. He might figure it out if you do._

As Duo and Heero approached the others, they saw the contents of Heero's cart. Quatre tried not to giggle. "Uh.. Heero? I think maybe it will take too long for us to eat ten loaves of bread. It will get all stale." He smiled at the Japanese boy, "Lets put about half of them back, we can always go buy more later." Frowning slightly, Heero took five of the most squashed loaves out, and Quatre took out two of the four gallons of milk. "I think the rest of the stuff should keep until we can eat it." Quatre led Heero back to the dairy and bread area while the rest of the boys looked through everyone's carts.

"Duo, that's a lot of ice cream" Trowa said, looking through the bags of frozen peas and skillet meals. "Though these look like something we can reasonably be able to prepare." Wufei just sniffed but eyed the cookie dough thoughtfully. _I've heard that cookie dough tastes good without baking… Perhaps I should verify this rumor. _

"That's a lot of glasses and dishes Q's got there. Do you think we need all that?" Duo pointed to the overflowing cart of non-food.

Trowa shrugged. "I believe he expects a certain level of breakage."

He nodded, "Yeah, I guess I can see that." The braided boy looked curiously at the remainder of Heero's cart. _Nutella! Yum! I wonder… could he be thinking…? Naw not Heero. Now me on the other hand…_ Duo was still contemplating what he'd like to do with the nutella when the object of his fantasies returned, empty handed, with Quatre. The blonde was not empty handed, however. He was still carrying the two gallons of milk but had added a bottle of coffee syrup, a large bottle of chocolate syrup and a bottle of strawberry syrup.

Wufei frowned a little deeper when he saw the additions, but Trowa barely refrained from grinning. _Now then Quatre, lets hope you're planning something other than chocolate milk with that syrup. _The barest hint of a blush appeared on his visible cheek. No one seemed to notice.

Still frowning Wufei took one last glance over their five carts. Not all of them were full but it was certainly a large amount of food. "Perhaps we should retreat before any more items find their way into our carts." Not waiting for their answer, he dragged his own cart to the aisle with the shortest line. The others fell in behind, Trowa behind him, followed by Quatre, both of whom seemed to be blushing faintly.

Duo pushed his cart full of ice cream behind the blond, and Heero pulled his from the front because it was still to heavy to easily steer from the rear. He may have pulled it a bit too hard, for when he stopped, the heavily laden cart kept going, thumping into Heero's injured leg and causing him to stumble into Duo. The violet eyed boy caught him in strong arms and held him while he got his legs underneath himself again. _Oh Heero, don't pull away, please don't pull away. Stay here._ Duo savored the moment and the feeling of Heero in his arms. For a long moment neither of them moved, both of them blushing furiously.

"Ah.. Sorry." Heero said weakly.

_How many times has he said that to me today? And how do I tell him that I'm not the least bit sorry to have him in my arms. _Duo smiled "'sOK, you alright?" He reluctantly let go of his arms as Heero pulled away. Unable to say anything coherent, the blue eyed boy just nodded. Looking around to hide their blushes, they noticed the line had moved up. There was only one "normal" customer left in their line and the checkout girl kept glancing up at the five hot teenaged boys that waited with a mountain of food, earning her job title in a completely different way. Wufei had most of his vegetables loaded on the conveyor belt and Trowa began loading his stuff on the belt as well, when he heard one of his favorite sounds.

Quatre was giggling. The giggles grew louder and soon the blonde was nearly doubled with laughter. Feeling the eyes of the other pilots on him he simply pointed. On the racks lining the checkout aisles were various kinds of books and magazines. Quatre pointed at some cheap looking newspaper type things at the bottom shelf. Various sounds of amusement escaped the other four as they read the article titles.

"Relena and Dorothy: See the Shocking Vacation Photos!"

"Learn the Truth Behind Miss Catalonia's Eyebrows!"

"Lightning Countess? Has Sexy Zechs-y Found a Mate?"

There were quite a few other titles as well. Duo eyed them with a speculative look in his eye. "Hey that's pretty funny Quat! Can we get one?" He bent down and picked one from the shelf by his feet. His eyes widened as he noticed a smaller headline near the bottom corner. "_Secret Love Lives of Gundam Pilots" huh? My love life is pretty damned secret. He doesn't even know I love him. _Duo froze. His mind ground to a halt at his mental declaration. Suddenly needing to change the mental subject, he scanned the shelves looking for something, anything to take his mind in a different direction. His eyes lit on a brightly colored book. "Hey guys! Check this out!" He held up the book. "_Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen! _Heero said we should get a cookbook. This looks about right for us!"

Wufei was helping Trowa bag the groceries the young woman scanned while she wasn't ogling the five boys. "Whatever Maxwell, just get moving." Duo shrugged and put the book on the belt with the tabloid.

Morbid curiosity caused Duo Maxwell to throw the tabloid with the _"Secret Love Lives of Gundam Pilots"_ into his cart along with the cookbook. Heero glanced over his friend's shoulder as he hastily threw the tabloid into the cart. "What is that?" He asked quietly. Duo shivered slightly as he felt Heero's hot breath on his neck.

"Something silly," the boy with the braid responded just as quietly, his voice getting trapped in his throat.

"Why silly?" _Did he just get closer? Or did I just imagine his skin touching mine._ He bent over and picked up the magazine and held to Heero could take it. After a few moments the messy haired boy scoffed. "We have secret love lives?" He raised an eyebrow to Duo who just stared back at him, violet eyes unreadable. _Did anyone ever tell you that you are the most… beautiful creature in the world?_

Heero Yuy knew that he was playing a very, very dangerous game at the moment and despite that knowledge he couldn't stop, he couldn't turn away and ignore those beautiful violet eyes that pierced deep into his soul. At that moment the Wing Zero pilot cared less if the other pilots saw him. His consciousness was at the hands of his hormones now and he would gladly go to Hell so he could dance, among other things, with the God of Death. Whether or not Yuy realized his actions his index finger was absently tracing the spine of the long silky braid attached to Duo Maxwell. Heero also couldn't care less at that moment if Duo realized what he was doing, he had no idea how he was going to get out of it if he did, but he couldn't help himself. "Why Mister Maxwell! Is there some beautiful girl that you sneak out at night to see?" Heero's blue eyes partially closed as he quietly asked the question his lips brushing against Duo's ear. _God he smells good. Move Maxwell or you are going to be ravished right here in the grocery checkout line. Yuy, what the fuck is wrong with you. Where the hell did your precious self control go? Out the window when Duo comes into the picture. _

Duo shivered as Heero whispered into his ear. _Was that lust in his voice? No way in hell. He's just fucking with me._"No, no girl." Was all the boy with the long chestnut braid could muster. _I'd like to be sneaking into your room at night. Fuck Maxwell stop this line of thought now. He's your friend. Friends don't fuck friends. Well ok they do...No don't think about that. _"Um Heero, are you ok? You're acting kinda funny." He asked an inch or two away from Heero lips. _Or is it me that is acting funny. I can't tell anymore._

Heero smirked at his friend and put some room between them. "Fine." The typical one word answer, but violet eyes saw... something... in those deep, dark cobalt eyes and he knew that there was far more to that answer than that one word.

Both boys seemed to snap out of whatever little world they had entered together at the sound of Quatre whispering to Trowa and giggling. Wufei stood behind them, or in front of them depending on how you were situated, looking immensely amused with his fellow pilots current actions towards each other. "Duo I think you should put your frozen foods on the belt. I think mom" pointing to Wufei "is going to kill us if we don't get our acts in gear and finish this excursion." Quatre chuckled and pulled his cart of out the way from the front.

"I should, shouldn't I?" He grinned like he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have and went about quickly unloading the contents of the cart onto the conveyor belt. Quatre helped him do so while the girl scanned and Trowa and Wufei bagged.

After virtually being caught about ready to jump Duo Maxwell in the check out line, and boy did he check out his friend, he figured it would be best to just get out of the store as fast as possible. _A cold shower might be good. _He frowned at the thought. _Ok that would just be a pain in the ass, then I would have to re-dress all the wounds that Sally so nicely treated. _He sighed and waited until the contents of his cart would fit on the belt, when it would he started to pull things out of the cart.

"Heero go stand over there. I'll do it. Po will kill me if you damage yourself again." Duo told Heero in mock orders. "Hn." Was his only reply, but Heero did get out of the way and wandered over to the window and waited. It wasn't long until they were all done. Wufei had taken the lead and closed out the order. Everyone but Quatre winced as the total flashed on the screen. Quatre seemed amused by the amount, but it obviously didn't bother or surprise him.

The five boys each pushed their cart out of the grocery store and Trowa opened the van. "Go sit Heero, Duo's right about Po killing us." Wufei seemed to grin happily every time someone mentioned Sally Po in any fashion. For a nano-second he seemed to go to lala land, but would hide the fact by quickly looking distastefully at someone.

Heero grumbled something about not being an invalid and climbed into the middle seat to wait while the others packed their loot into the back of the van. He picked at one of the bandages on his arms absently in an annoyed fashion occasionally blowing his bangs out of his eyes.

The four made short work of the mountain of groceries and they were soon stowed in the back of the van with a minimum of giggling on Quatre's part. Duo's cheeks still felt warm, though as he passed the side mirror he noticed they weren't red. _Damn that Heero. I wish I knew what he was thinking. _Moving to get into the back seat again, Duo noticed the change of positions. _If I didn't know better Yuy… _His mind flashed back to the grocery line just ten minutes ago. _Maybe I don't know better. Maybe he really is thinking those things. Maybe Heero Yuy, the perfect soldier actually has a sex drive… Maybe that isn't such a ridiculous thought. _He realized he was standing with his hand on the open door, staring blankly up at Heero, who was staring back looking faintly amused. Everyone else was in the car.

"Move it, Maxwell" Wufei barked. "I want to get back to put this stuff away before all that damned ice cream you bought melts." Quatre giggled. Again. _Something really needs to be done about that boy. _Duo thought darkly as he jumped into the van and yanked the door shut. He pulled a little too hard and ended up bumping into Heero's arm a little.

"Sorry" he muttered to no one in particular as he flicked his braid so it didn't get caught in the seat belt. His hair somehow ended up on Heero's thigh. _I wonder how long he'll leave it there if I don't do anything._ He settled in his seat, careful not to move his head so much that the end of the long braid would fall from it's precarious perch on top of Heero's khaki slacks. He watched the young man carefully out of the corner of his eye.

Heero wasn't sure what Duo was thinking about when he stared at him earlier but he sure as hell had a clue now. _The bastard is baiting me. He has to be. _The same braid end he'd held only this morning was lying on his leg, taunting him. He was vaguely aware of Wufei next to him staring out the window, and of Barton and Winner talking quietly to each other in the front. The majority of his attention was on the tail of hair resting in his lap and of the violet eyed teen next to him. _Two can play at this game Maxwell,_ he thought.

Duo kept watching out of the corner of his eye, seemingly looking straight ahead. Heero moved his hand to cover the braid end on his thigh. _Well he left it there longer than I thought anyway._ Duo thought, expecting him to flick the hair off, but the blue eyed boy did no such thing. He held on to it, like he had this morning, but this time he didn't hold it in a death grip. This time he toyed with it, much like Duo was inclined to do when nervous or bored. The violet eyed boy watched in fascination as Heero ran the soft ends back and forth against his palm. _Oh, man, Yuy, you are not playing fair. _Duo suppressed a mental groan as he left off all pretence and openly stared at Heero's lap, watching the strong slim hand fidget with the tail of his hair. _I think this backfired on me somehow. Maybe he does think about those things. Maybe he does know how much I want to…_ Duo's eyes moved up from Heero's lap, to rest on his face, squarely into a dark blue ocean that made him feel like he'd never be able to look away. There was amusement in those eyes, but something else as well. Unconsciously, the tip of Duo's traitorous tongue flicked out and licked his lower lip. Heero's lips parted too. _He's not going to kiss me in the van with every one else… but oh I wish he would. _The barest hint of a smile played about both their lips and the world narrowed to each other's eyes.

"That's not true!" Quatre shrieked giggling. Both Duo and Heero started, and looked towards the front seat. "Duo, tell him I'm not manipulative!"

It took two tries for Duo to find his voice, his mouth seemed so dry all of a sudden. "I'm gonna stay out of this one Quat" He tried to put the look in Heero's eyes to the back of his mind for now and pasted his regular grin back on his face. _I don't know whether to be relieved or angry, Q. You've got some timing. _"Remember, I don't lie." He heard a snort come from Wufei. Heero, he noticed as he watched out of the corner of his eye, was frowning slightly as he stared at the front window. He was still holding the tail of Duo's hair in his hand. _Don't think too hard about it Maxwell. I'm sure he is just curious what it feels like or something. He's never had long hair and I'm pretty sure he's never been in a position to touch someone else's. _Still, this sudden fascination of Heero's made him both nervous and excited.

"That's no fair." Quatre protested, still giggling. "I just like to help!" Trowa's response was too quiet to be heard over his giggling but whatever it was made the blond blush and stop laughing. Duo watched them curiously and may have even commented if they hadn't pulled into the parking lot at that very moment.

Trowa said nothing more as he parked the car, but his mind was in turmoil. He'd mentioned the little drama going on in the back seat to Quatre, hoping that mentioning Heero and Duo's 'dance' would clue him in to their own strange relationship. Quatre, though, fixed on how to get them together. _Some of his suggestions were almost cruel. Maybe it would have worked but still... _He had expressed his misgivings about Quatre's plan, and regretted it as soon as he spoke. _But he didn't seem angry, he just laughed. I should have stayed out of it. But no, I had to push the issue. _He couldn't look at Quatre as he undid his seat belt and got out of the car; he feared what he might see in those beautiful eyes.  
_  
'A wise man knows his own heart before advising others.' _Trowa's soft words rang in Quatre's head as he opened the door to get out. _Does he know? He must know. But..._ He pushed the thoughts aside for the moment. _I have to talk to him but now is not the time. Just smile. He probably thinks you're angry. _His cheeks still bright pink, Quatre went to the back to help the others unload. "Here Heero, these are light. Just bread." Duo said, shoving a pair of bags at a very frustrated looking Heero. _You'd be annoyed too, Maxwell, none of us likes to feel useless. _"And take the eggs too, I doubt they're heavy enough to incur the Wrath of Po," he grinned up at Heero, and his heart melted as the blue eyed boy smiled back. _Knock it off Maxwell. Talk to him later, he won't thank you for jumping him in public. _"Uh yeah. So you're on door duty too." He looked down and grabbed as many bags as he could carry without squashing anything. Wufei was doing the same. Trowa and Quatre exchanged an odd look before they started picking up bags too. _What's gotten into those two? _Duo wondered absently. _Worry about your own problems, Maxwell. They are not gonna kill each other so it isn't any of your business. _Between the four of them the managed to gather all the bags, and they all followed Heero into the building.

_**A/N**__: We're warning you now that the rating will go up in the next chapter or so. But we aren't telling why or who! Bwahahahaa! _


	8. Confrontation

**Disclaimer: **Gundam Wing is **still** not ours.

**Warnings: **There is a bit of angst in this chapter. And a bit of action. And some innuendo. And a bunch of bouncing around. (once again because of our unorthodox writing method. Deal with it.)

**Sylenctone's note: **While it is highly inefficient, it is quite inspirational to attempt editing chapters while on the phone with your co-author. Unfortunately, 'inspiration' is just another way of saying 'more work' though I'm sure the story is better for it. I think. (And Sunday night still counts as the weekend, right?)

**Irishfae's note**: It does not help your partner that while she is trying to edit with your assistance you are reorganizing your Manga and DVD shelves.

**Chapter 8: Confrontation**

**Earlier, in the control room**:

"Did they actually leave yet?" Noin asked Zechs as she walked into the room with two cups of coffee.

"Noin, we just had coffee." The blonde said, raising a graceful eyebrow as he took the offered cup.

She sat beside him with a heavy sigh. "Tell me again why we are doing this to them. I am afraid they will kill each other," she pauses, "or something else. It is just a bit tense in that room." She placed her right hand on his knee, her long fingers curling to brush the inside of his leg.

Zechs looked at her, arching a golden brow. _Oh, this is interesting. _"What other things, Noin." He asked knowing full well what was on her mind.

She dug her fingers into the cloth of his pants. "You want to go out for lunch?" She looked at him hopefully.

He chuckled. _Oh yes, this will be a wonderful lunch. _"And where did you want to go for lunch?" He closed the almost non-existent distance between their body's until his face was a few inches away from hers.

"Somewhere private." She virtually whispered back.

"Ahem!" came a female voice from the doorway. "Should I put in a request in to have cameras installed in the control room?" Sally Po asked as she stood, grinning, against the door frame, her left hand on her hip.

Noin turned bright red and quickly separated herself from the gorgeous blonde. Zechs, on the other hand, couldn't care less that Sally walked in on them in a rather _private _moment. His movements were much slower, and more sensual to make that point very clear to their unexpected visitor. He stood up, very deliberately and sauntered over to Sally and leaned close. "If you want a show, I am sure we could tape the nightly feed from Chang's room." His deep voice still radiating lust as he quietly spoke to the honey blonde woman.

Sally paled then immediatly flushed scarlet. "You wouldn't." She hissed. He just smiled and turned back around, returning to his seat next to Noin. "You are an asshole, Milliardo Peacecraft." Sally said at the same time that Noin punched him none-too-lightly on the shoulder. Sally was rewarded with a glare from Zechs at the mention of his birth name.

"So Sally." Noin began, looking to change the subject. "What is your opinion of the situation with the five pilots?"

The doctor laughed. "Right now I'm not sure that the decision to back them off the hormone drugs was the best of ideas. Five teenage boys together in one room is going to make for an interesting time."

Noin stared at her blankly.

Po sighed. "As in their sex drives are now in overdrive and it is more than obvious, which should make for some tense and possibly very interesting situations. That is, unless they kill each other first."

Noin and Zechs both looked at the doctor, highly entertained. "Situations? With each other?" Noin asked and Sally laughed.

"More than likely, save for perhaps one."

Noin grinned slyly. "That wouldn't be 05 now, would it Doctor Po?"

The honey blonde cleared her throat as the color rose in her cheeks. "Let's get off this topic, shall we?" There was an amused nod in agreement.

**Back with the boys…**

It was soon clear that five gundam pilots trying to put away groceries was not a pretty thing. They all had very specific (and conflicting) thoughts on the strategic placement of the groceries. Not that Quatre particularly minded his close proximity to Trowa or being able to accidentally lean into him on grounds that he lost balance because someone else got in his way. _This is way to fun. _Quatre giggled aloud, causing the other boys to stop what they were doing and look at him, which in turn caused the blonde to blush fiercely.

"Q, what the hell is up with you lately? You've been giggling like mad, almost non-stop since we woke up!" Duo exclaimed. "Well 'cept for that bit of time when Heero went and got himself all messed up." Heero shot Duo a look that could have killed, but Duo didn't notice. "So what's going on?"

"Um…" Quatre tried his best innocent look and suddenly found that his fingers required immense concentration. "Nothing?" He said very hopefully, looking into Duo's violet eyes. _Shit, he didn't buy it. Come on Quatre you know better than thinking that Duo would have bought that to begin with._

"Uh huh. I know you are planning something Quatre Raberba Winner. And I intend to find out what it is." Duo threatened ominously and began to turn away from his friend, but stopped dramatically and stared Quatre down. "Do you talk in your sleep?" A smirk appeared on his face. "You better hope that you don't."

At that, Trowa frowned at Duo in disbelief. "What are you going to do Maxwell? Slip into his room at night and watch him while he sleeps?"

The American saw this as a challenge and grinned a deadly grin. Heero saw that Shinigami had taken over and knew that this wasn't going to end well. "Do you have a problem with that Barton?" Violet eyes twinkled as he took a step closer to the taller boy. Heero watched Duo warily as he strategically positioned himself so that he could pull Duo away from the other pilot if necessary.

"Fuck off Maxwell. It isn't any of your damn business."

Quatre looked at Trowa as if he had grown another head. _Not good. Not good at all._The blonde started to panic slightly and, like Heero, positioned himself so that he can pull Trowa off Duo.

The deadly grin did not fade from Shinigami's lips. "Are you afraid I might do something to him while he sleeps?" He took another step closer.

Trowa's hands clenched into fists and the visible half of his face turned bright red. "Watch it Maxwell." Trowa's calm center was disappearing rapidly. Heero glanced at Quatre who seemed to be concentrating on Trowa with flushed cheeks.

"Watch what Barton? You gonna give us a show? Are you afraid I'll take advantage of your sleeping angel?" He goaded the older boy on, which finally sent Trowa over the edge. He swung at Duo, who tried to dodge. Unfortunately, the God of Death forgot that they were surrounded by the other pilots and as Duo dodged he was stopped by Heero's unbudging body. Trowa's fist cracked him squarely in the jaw. Heero's left arm instantly wrapped around Duo's waist and began to pull him away so he couldn't retaliate. Quatre grabbed Trowa's upper right arm and began to pull in the opposite direction. Wufei, with an exasperated sigh, bravely stepped between the two, calmly prepared to keep Trowa and Duo from further fighting.

The lithe acrobat tried to free himself from the blonde's grasp, forgetting that Quatre was just as strong as he was. "Now, Trowa." Quatre command as he headed in the direction of the enraged boy's room. Trowa wasn't hearing any of it and continued to try to get back to Duo. With a great heave, Quatre swung the taller boy around and dragged him bodily into the room, not daring to release the death grip on Trowa's arm. Meanwhile, Heero similarly hauled Duo into his own room.

Quatre managed to get Trowa in the room, shutting the door so he couldn't get back out, and backed him into the wall placing his hands on either side of him, effectively trapping him there. "What the hell is wrong with you?" The Arabian boy hissed. "You never lose it like this."

No words came to Trowa as he felt the heat coming from Quatre's body. So he did the only thing that seemed logical at the time. He leaned over and kissed the golden haired boy as his hands quickly and gently went to cradle Quatre's face on the chance that he would bolt for it.

Quatre froze. His blue eyes were as wide as saucers in shock. _He's not... This isn't happening. But...!_ Quatre's brain protested, before actual thoughts became impossible. Trowa's soft lips moved against his, and slowly his eyes slid closed. Quatre found himself kissing back. He'd had dreams about this moment for nearly two years. Trowa started to pull away slightly and Quatre wrapped his arms around the taller boy to keep him there. _Oh no,_thought the part of his brain that was still working. _You aren't going anywhere. I've wanted this for too long. _The blond pulled Trowa even closer and held him tightly.

Trowa knew he shouldn't have been surprised when Quatre responded to his kiss, but he was. When he felt strong arms wrap around his back and the heat of the other boy's body against his, he was extremly thankful for the support of the wall behind him as his knees felt suddenly weak. One hand moved to tangle in Quatre's soft blonde hair. The other slid down the shorter boy's back. He wasn't sure how long they stayed there, long enough though, that they were both out of breath.

When they reluctantly pulled apart for air, Quatre stared up into Trowa's emerald eyes. "How long have you...?" He whispered hoarsely.

"Too long." Trowa held the golden haired boy in a tight embrace, afraid to let him go. Quatre buried his face in his strong shoulder. _Thank you Duo, you little bastard. I owe you one. _

**Meanwhile in Heero's room...**

Duo stopped struggling as soon as he was out of sight of the other boys. _Damn, Tro packs a mean right hook._ He grinned, even though it hurt, and rubbed his jaw, still chuckling.

"What the hell do you think you were doing back there, Maxwell!" Heero growled at him quietly through clenched teeth. "And what the fuck is so goddamned funny!" Angry blue eyes glared and strong bandaged fingers still gripped his arm.

"Hey! I'm tired of those two dancin' around each other!" Duo's voice was low but so filled with emotion that it seemed more like a shout. "Quat thinks he knows everything about everybody, but he can't see what's right in front of his own damned face." _Just like some other people in this house_, he thought. "I figured maybe I could show him." He rubbed his jaw and stretched it out a little. "Looks like it worked pretty damned well, too." The smug grin returned and he stared up into those dangerously blue eyes. _Damn, Heero, you're so sexy when you're angry._

Heero's glare turned into a frown as he worked through Duo's reasoning. _They_have_ been somewhat awkward around each other… But what makes him think that making Trowa angry and defensive is going to do anything to Quatre… _But then he thought about what he'd do if it were Trowa threatening to watch Duo as he slept. Sudden understanding dawned in his eyes. "You conniving little bastard!" He growled, but the anger was out of his voice.

Twinkling violet eyes grinned at him "Yup! That's me! Shinigami the matchmaker!" _Yeah, too bad you can't do anything about your own damned crush_, he thought, though he kept grinning. It was never hard to smile at Heero Yuy.

"Baka" he muttered, still looking into those lovely smiling eyes. Eyes that made him want to... _Damn it, Yuy, get him out of your room. Now! Before you do something stupid. Move! Go help Wufei! _"Come on." He said gruffly. "Wufei is out there putting everything away by himself." Quickly he turned and walked out of his room and back towards the kitchen, leaving a slightly confused looking Duo trailing behind.

**Back in Trowa's room…**

"I don't want to move from here just yet." Quatre said nuzzling Trowa's neck and planting a kiss on his shoulder, then he giggled. "We're not going to live this down you know. Not until everyone out there is getting some."

The light-brown haired boy looked at the smaller boy with and amused glare, but a glare none-the-less, looked like he was going to say something but decided against it favoring instead to kiss the blonde again while trying to find a way to merge their bodies together. It started as a slow tentative kiss, but Quatre decided that this tentative kiss of theirs wasn't allowing enough contact between the two of them so he pulled away only slightly to allow his tongue to run over Trowa lips as his hands almost painfully slow un-tucked the blue sweater. The brown haired boy grunted slightly and pulled his sweater out of his pants as he attacked the blonde's lips, tongue darting out issuing a challenge. Quatre smiled as the sudden change and took the challenge. At first he responded more playful, but when his long fingers felt smooth skin he upped the intensity without even realizing it. The Arabian boy began to explore with his hands, touching ever single part of Trowa's body that he could reach. He traced the defined muscles on the other boys stomach and whimpered slightly when the coarse cotton band kept him from tracing any lower.

As the blonde ran his fingers over the acrobat's skin he couldn't suppress the moan the generated deep within his body. The warm lithe fingers dancing across his skin left hot trails in their wake and he fought will all his might to keep from pulling his sweater off right then and there. Their kiss had become a battle, perhaps a little to violent, then again they were soldiers, but it was so full of raw passion that neither of them registered or cared that it was a bit too violent. Trowa's fingers were buried in golden hair, cradling and controlling and moaned again when his partner ground his hips against him. _Fuck, alright as much as I could keep doing this all day. We can't let it get much further or we're not going to leave this room at all. And we really need to_. As Trowa concluded that thought his fingers moved from Quatre's hair to his shoulders and gently pushed, separating them slightly.

All the shorter boy could do was whimper and look confused, which got him another slightly more chaste kiss. "We need to do more things today and if we don't stop now, I don't know if I'll be able not to rip those clothes off your body." Trowa said huskily, causing Quatre to shiver slightly and merely nod. The Heavyarms pilot had to smile at the blonde's lack of words. _Heh, I wouldn't be surprised if Heero manages to consume Duo's words for a while afterwards too._

"And we have lots of time to do more of this later." He grinned and pressed his forehead to his love's, who grinned like an idiot and slowly came back to the here and now.

"You should tuck your sweater back in." He grinned again. "How do I look?" He stepped back and turned around hold his arms slightly away from his body.

"Like you either just got up or got some." Trowa chuckled and stepped closer to Quatre and attempted to replace some obvious rogue locks.

"Come on. We shouldn't give Duo anymore ammo." A lopsided grin, "At least not yet." The golden haired boy said as he grabbed the other boy's hand and began to pull him towards the door.

Trowa who had_just _finished tucking in his sweater couldn't help but grin like a fool in love, which he was, but he wasn't used to showing it. "Hey." He stopped moving and pulled Quatre back to him giving him a quick passionate kiss. "We should thank him sometime. Not just yet, but sometime."

Quatre giggled. "I was thinking the same thing." With a shared grin, they left Trowa's room to rejoin the others.

**A/N: Things get a bit interesting in the next chapter. We'll try to have it up soon!**

**(Translation: We'll have it up when Sylenctone has edited to the point where she feels it is time to pull Irishfae away from writing, whatever it is that Irishfae is writing at the time.) **


End file.
